Florida fans will tell you it came far too late, but Billy Napier admitted Tuesday that he likely should have given up play-calling duties well before his final season as the Gators' head coach in 2025.
"I think that I probably was a little stubborn," Napier told Wilson Alexander of On3 ahead of his first season coaching at James Madison.
Florida hired Napier prior to the 2022 campaign largely based on his work as an offensive guru while serving as the head coach at Louisiana. However, his offense struggled mightily with the jump in competition to the SEC; he finished his four-year run in Gainesville without fielding a top-50 scoring unit nationally.
Those issues surfaced despite Napier's strong ability to recruit high-level talent, including quarterback DJ Lagway. While Lagway flashed moments of brilliance, injuries and poor play kept him and the offense from generating sustained success.
Napier pointed to the added duties of the ever-changing NIL world and transfer portal as a factor in Florida's offensive woes.
"I think that that took away from the level of detail that I had provided in a lot of those areas in the past," Napier said. "And then once my back was against the wall, I wasn't confident or comfortable enough to hand (those responsibilities) over to somebody else."
Napier completed his tenure with a 22-23 overall record, including a disappointing 12-16 mark in SEC play. While he did bring the Gators back to the national forefront from a recruiting standpoint, the on-field product consistently lacked.
That ultimately cost Napier his job seven games into last season, and the school went on to hire then-Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall as its new head coach in late November.
After reflecting on his time with Florida, Napier has clarity on what he needs to change in order for James Madison to be successful under his guidance.
"If I can sum it up, I would say the ability to delegate and hire exceptional people in certain areas and hand over more responsibility to those guys and empower them to do their job at a high level," Napier said.
Part of that delegation is leading the offense, something he won't be doing at James Madison. Napier hired Cam Aiken from East Tennessee State to call plays for the Dukes next season.
