By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:
SOME ANSWERS ABOUT WHAT WENT WRONG IN 2021
Everybody, from watched those same Florida Gators slug it out with Alabama three games into the 2020 season to those who stuck around and shook their heads when the final whistle blew in that embarrassing loss to UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl, has at one time or another wondered what went wrong. Dan Mullen got fired before the Florida State game and has not made himself available to answer how the Gators could go 29-6 in the first 35 games of his tenure as Florida’s football coach then crash and burn to 6-10 in the last 16.
New head coach Billy Napier surely has theories but he’s spent the last three months putting in place a system that he believes when implemented completely will heal all the wounds and move the Gators forward, never again to return to the dark days of the 2021 season. We can label this restoration process by any one of a hundred different names, but whatever we decide to call it, it still comes down to one basic thing: Changing the football culture once and for all at the University of Florida.
Napier answered questions for 10 minutes at the indoor practice facility Tuesday afternoon after the Gators finished day one of the 15 allotted practice days for spring football. Quite frankly, he really didn’t have time to get into the depths of what he’s changing. That’s because he’s not only the head coach and CEO of this operation, but the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.
He only used the word culture once in the entire 10 minutes he spoke and that was to express how he pulled off the first practice with only a few glitches. This was, after all, the first time he and his staff have been on the field to teach football. Everything they’ve done heading up to this moment has been in preparation. By the time we get to the spring game, Napier expects a well-oiled machine in place to squeeze the life out of every second the Gators are on the practice field.
Rather than point fingers, Napier made it a point to equally distribute the shortcomings experienced on day one.
“Everybody out there made some mistakes today,” Napier said. “There’s no question from the managers that work with the quarterbacks all the way up to the head coach nobody was perfect. The key is that we’re committed to trying to do our best. Everybody’s got a role. I think that’s part of the culture that we want to try to create. Every person in that building contributes to our team.”
He never mentioned the 3-game bender at the end of the 2020 season that carried over into the disaster that was 2021 but even though his remarks were directed toward the team that was on the practice field Tuesday, the hints about what went wrong with the previous coach were anything but subtle.
Nobody was perfect. Nobody was also committed to trying to do their best. Not everybody was committed to contributing to the team.
This was one of those moments when the head coach really didn’t have to go into detail. He is fully focused on sailing the Good Ship Gator past the shipwreck left smoldering in the water by the previous head coach and staff.
Strength and conditioning coordinator/assistant head coach Mark Hocke took things a little bit further. Speaking about the previous month when the Gators went through what is labeled the “Identity Program” – by any other name they’re called mat drills – Hocke hit on accountability, something that seemed to get tossed out the window last year when things began going from bad to worse.
“One of the best things that kind of kept coming up was, ‘We need to make the small things important’ and that’s accountability,” Hocke said. “That’s another way of holding people accountable. We put a premium on that – making the small things important. You might think from a weight room standpoint, is how you do a clean or a power clean or a back squats really important? No, we want to know are you tucked in? Are you in your dress code for the day? Are you early? Are you on time? Do you work throughout the entire 60-minute period? Those are the details.
“All of these guys, they wouldn’t play at Florida if they weren’t blessed with a tremendous amount of ability. We’ve got to get consumed with the intangibles – integrity, discipline, toughness, effort, play together, and then, obviously, becoming believers. Believe you can do it and compete with anybody.”
Good stuff, yes, but it still didn’t get to the heart of how the Gators imploded last year.
Emory Jones did, however. So did Anthony Richardson.
Jones was going to transfer out but elected to stay for the spring when he became convinced that Billy Napier and his new coaching staff had his best interests in mind. He does have the option to put his name in the transfer portal but that decision won’t be made until spring football is over and he graduates in May. For now, he’s committed to being a Gator.
Speaking about the 2021 season and why he had one foot out the door until sometime around January 1, Jones said, “Basically things that went on last year that I wasn’t really comfortable with and I didn’t want to be around that any more. I kind of wanted a new environment to start with, but he [Napier] kind of preached to me that what was happening here. They were planning new environment, a new culture. I just trusted him and bought into it.”
There you go. The old culture stunk.
Richardson, who will be battling his best friend Jones and three other quarterbacks for reps this spring, went into more detail.
“Yeah, I feel like we didn't, honestly as a team, like, care enough about the little things like, putting your hand behind the line, or just looking a certain way,” Richardson said. “Hands on your hips, just things like that, because all that stuff correlates when it comes to the game. So I feel like the little things messed us up.”
Little things become big things that go poof in the night. Remember the Kentucky game? A first quarter false start killed one first quarter drive. There was another false start that killed a third quarter drive. A holding call in the third quarter forced a field goal attempt that was blocked and returned for a TD. A fourth quarter false start forced UF to kick a field goal. Another false start at the Kentucky nine kept the Gators from possibly scoring the game-tying TD in a 20-13 loss.
And how will poof in the night be avoided in the future? Richardson has an idea.
“I feel like a lot of people, they're into it now,” Richardson said. “You know, when it comes to discipline, and just focus on little things, just fixing the little things, I feel like everybody is a lot more focused when it comes to that.”
Discipline. Focus. Accountability. Everybody doing their part for the team from the managers all the way up to the head coach.
It’s only day one of spring football, but already there is a new, very positive vibe about what is going on. Rome wasn’t built in a day nor will the Florida football program be restored to a championship level, but every restoration project has to start somewhere. Billy Napier knows what he wants and expects. He’s off to a very good start.
WILL THE GATORS EXTEND THE HOOPS SEASON OR WILL TONIGHT’S NIT GAME BE THE END?
It has been a rather traumatic week since the Gators had the rug pulled out of their NCAA Tournament hopes by the Texas A&M Aggies in the second round of the SEC Tournament. Florida’s 83-80 overtime loss not only doomed the Gators to the National Invitational Tournament but it also brought the curtain crashing down on the Mike White Era.
When the Gators (19-13) take on MAAC regular season champ Iona (25-7) in an NIT first round game the O-Dome (9 p.m., ESPN2), we will find out if they feel there is something still to play for or if they’ve simply mailed it in. Al Pinkins will serve as Florida’s interim head coach against the Gaels, coached by Rick Pitino. Among Iona’s 25 wins is a 72-68 upset of then 10th-ranked Alabama, which, in turn, beat the Gators, 83-70.
The Gators won’t be anything close to healthy. Anthony Duruji (ankle) will be a game-time decision as will Niels Lane (sick and unable to practice Saturday and Sunday). CJ Felder (hip) is definitely out.
SEC Basketball
Tuesday’s NIT game: Texas A&M (24-12) 74, Alcorn State (17-17) 62; Vanderbilt (18-16) 82, Belmont (25-8) 71
Wednesday’s NIT games: Iona (25-7) at FLORIDA (19-13); Mississippi State (18-15) at Virginia (19-13)
UF SOFTBALL: GATORS FACE STETSON IN DELAND
Fresh off a 3-0 win over Mississippi State in the series-clinching game Monday night, the 5th-ranked Gators travel to DeLand to face Stetson (10-17) tonight (6 p.m., ESPN+). This might be an opportunity for the Gators to get lefties Haley Pittman (1-0, 0.00 ERA) and Rylee Trlicek (1-0, 2.63 ERA) some innings so that Elizabeth Hightower, Natalie Lugo and Lexie Delbrey can be saved for the weekend when UF (23-2, 2-1 SEC) travels to College Station to face Texas A&M (16-8, 0-3 SEC).
UF GYMNASTICS: LEANNE WONG SEC GYMNAST OF THE WEEK
Freshman Leanne Wong was selected SEC Gymnast of the Week after her 39.850 score to win the All-Around as the 2nd-ranked Gators (13-0-1) won a tri-meet with North Carolina State, Rutgers and Pennsylvania. Wong’s score tied teammate Trinity Thomas for the highest all-around score in the nation this year.
The Gators, who have already won the SEC regular season title for the fourth consecutive year, will compete in the SEC Championships in Birmingham this weekend.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: At his introductory press conference in Athens Tuesday, the University of Georgia gave Mike White a heroes’ welcome. Brotherly love was abundant at decrepit Stegman Coliseum for the former University of Florida basketball coach, who was greeted by smoke cannons, cheerleaders, dancers, the pep band and fans chanting, “We like Mike! We like Mike!”
The excitement for White is in contrast to the apathy that was gathering at warp speed after the Gators bowed out of the SEC Tournament last Thursday, a loss that eliminated the Gators as a potential NCAA Tournament team and doomed them to the NIT. At his Tuesday press conference, White said he was actually looking forward to coaching the Gators in the NIT when Georgia came calling.
“I was excited about an NIT run,” White said at his press conference in Athens. “I wanted to go to the NIT. I love those guys. That team [Florida] in particular had more adversity, got to be, than any team in college basketball.”
White may have wanted the NIT. Florida fans didn’t which may have something to do why a deal with Georgia was accomplished in a single day. Just like that, Mike White transformed into ex-Florida and current Georgia coach in one swell foop.
White was in no danger of being fired at Florida – not this year, at least – but he definitely felt the discontent from a growing percentage of Gator fans. He has a fresh beginning at Georgia and a chance to become the best basketball coach in Georgia history. Hugh Durham holds that title and he was just 298-216 in 17 years on the job – 57.9 percent. At Florida, White was 142-88 or 61.7 percent. If White can replicate that success rate at Georgia, he’ll be embraced, something that just wasn’t going to happen at Florida.
So consider the Mike White chapter of Florida basketball history over and done with. He starts brand new at Georgia and Florida will hire a new coach, most likely in the next two weeks. Think of this as a win-win for all parties involved.
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