Billy Napier makes bold declaration during introductory press conference

New Florida Gators head football coach Billy Napier has nothing but high expectations. Napier said in his introductory press conference on Sunday that he intends to build the best football team in the Southeastern Conference.

“We’re going to build the best football team in the SEC,” Napier said. “We’re going to build the best football program in the SEC.”

The former Louisiana coach has a lot of work ahead of him to turn the Gators around. He gets started on the process with the Gasparilla Bowl on Dec. 23. However, the stakes are high for Florida, which does not want to finish the year and start Napier’s tenure with a loss to UCF.

Billy Napier signed a seven-year deal with the Gators, worth nearly $52 million in total.

Napier will receive an average salary of roughly $7.4 million to coach in Gainesville. The deal starts with a $7.1 million salary, before increasing by $100,000 each year. His deal nearly triples the pay that he received at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Napier’s contract with Florida has two bonuses centered around SEC play. First, if he wins the SEC championship game, the 42-year-old will receive $125,000. Then, if he also wins the SEC regular-season Championship, he’ll receive an additional $250,000. If Florida finishes the season in the top 10, then he is subject to an additional $100,000.

Postseason bonuses include a $100,000 payout for any bowl game, $250,000 for a New Year’s Six bowl, $500,000 for a CFP semifinal game, $750,000 for the CFP Championship game and $1 million for winning the national title.

In addition to his incentive-laden contract, Napier will have a $7.5 million assistant coach salary pool.

Report: Napier makes first two hires

Billy Napier is starting to fill out his staff at Florida by bringing in two former Louisiana-Lafayette assistants, according to a report from Football Scoop.

Patrick Toney and Jabbar Juluke who served as assistants under Napier at Louisiana are joining Napier in Gainesville. Toney was the defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach, while Juluke was the assistant head coach and running backs coach.

As for their roles at Florida, Football Scoop’s report says that “Toney is expected to fill a defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator on Napier’s first staff,” while Juluke will “fill an offensive assistant role with the Gators.”

Toney spent four years on staff at Louisiana but did not hold the defensive coordinator distinction until his last two. He was first brought to the Ragin’ Cajuns as a safeties coach, and he later transitioned to coordinator and outside linebackers. The Ragin’ Cajuns have had one of the Sun Belt’s best scoring defenses since his arrival on campus.

Prior to his arrival at Louisiana, Toney spent two seasons as the safeties coach at UTSA, leading the Roadrunners to the No. 7 defense among FBS programs in total offense allowed.

Juluke made an impact in just a short time at Louisiana, as he helped produce San Fran RB Elijah Mitchell. Mitchell, who was a first-team All-Sun Belt honoree in 2020, finished his career ranked fifth in program history in rushing touchdowns (41 touchdowns), sixth in career rushing yards (3,267 yards) and set the program record for most rushing yards in a bowl game (127 yards).

After the 2019 season, Juluke was named the 2019 Running Backs Coach of the Year by Football Scoop. Louisiana-Lafayette’s running backs room had the best total rushing tallies in program history.

On3’s Simon Gibbs contributed to this report.