Billy Napier recalls how Alabama experience shaped his career
By Keith Farner
Published:
Billy Napier is looking to build a program at Florida with more resources than he had at Louisiana-Lafayette, but he admitted the experience he had coaching with Nick Saban was immensely helpful.
“It was a unique time in my career,” Napier said of the 2011 season at his Sunday press conference. “I was in a very humbled place, right, anytime that happens to you. I’m thankful for Coach Saban for giving me that opportunity. There’s no question, I’d been in college football for 10 years at that point and in that one year, I think I learned more than I learned in the previous 10, if that makes sense. It was unique in that I didn’t have a ton of responsibility, so I was able to observe all the different areas of that organization and how they worked.”
Napier then talked about going to Colorado State and going back to Alabama before he went to Arizona State.
“Really the most impact thing was going to the University of Louisiana and trying to do that on a smaller scale with less resources and putting your name on it, your spin on it, your brand on it,” Napier said.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
