Urban Meyer: ‘I feel for Billy Napier and his family, I’ve been there’

Urban Meyer knows from experience the pressure that is on Billy Napier as the head coach of Florida. The Gators lost 24-11 to Utah in the season opener this past week, leading to a large amount of criticism against the second-year coach from fans and the media alike.

It’s not atypical for overreactions to occur following a loss, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult to deal with. Appearing on Urban’s Take with Tim May, Meyer empathized with what Napier is going through with all the noise.

“I feel for coach Napier and his family,” he said. “I’ve been there. It’s not just Gainesville. It’s everywhere. Ohio State wins by three touchdowns over a Big Ten opponent and I hear and people text me, ‘What’s wrong?’ I’m like, ‘Stop it.'”

Florida struggled to get things going offensively against the Utes, particularly on the ground where it managed just 13 yards rushing. The Gators didn’t score a touchdown until 9:22 remaining in the game and at that point the outcome already seemed decided. Utah is a two-time defending Pac-12 champion, so it’s not exactly a bad loss, but many would have liked to see a more competitive contest.

Meyer coached in Gainesville from 2005-10, leading the Gators to a 65-15 record and two national titles in that span. He went on to say that, in a way, the criticism can be viewed as a positive because it shows how much fan interest there is. There’s a major responsibility that comes with coaching and playing at a prestigious program like Florida, which is one of a few places in the country with such a rich tradition.

“The last thing you want to do is start criticizing fans and interest,” Meyer said. “Because you know what? Thank God there is. That pays the bills. I would even tell our players and our staff and I would try to tell myself this: There’s a lot of places where it just doesn’t mean that much. Gainesville, Florida and Columbus, Ohio are not two of those places.

“No one’s making people go to school there and no one’s making a coach coach there, but it’s hard. We’re all human beings.”

It’s still early in the season and Napier has plenty of time to turn things around. He went 6-7 in his inaugural season last year and has the No. 3 recruiting class in the country coming in next year. As long as he can make a slight improvement on last year’s record, it should buy him enough time to make use of that talent.

Meyer admitted he didn’t always handle the pressure well in his time at Florida and Ohio State. However, once he learned to block out any opinions outside the program, it made things a lot easier. That’s his advice to Napier, and he’s rooting for the coach to succeed.

“When you take everything personal like I did for a while, you just get beaten down,” he said. “The best thing I started doing is just shut it out. But your family can’t because they live it. I’m really pulling for Napier to turn that thing around. I don’t know him that well, but I’ve been there.”

Napier and the Gators will aim to get back on track against McNeese State at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at The Swamp.