Mark Stoops addresses his history with Billy Napier ahead of Florida vs. Kentucky

Mark Stoops is facing a brand new foe in Florida coach Billy Napier. According to Coach Stoops himself, the two don’t have much of a history between them and aren’t too familiar with one another. But the Kentucky coach shared that he has plenty of respect for the new guy with the Gators.

When asked about Napier at his press conference this week, Stoops had nothing but positive words to share about him and his coaching record.

“Yeah, I don’t know coach very well. You know, we haven’t crossed paths much really at all. Let’s see, maybe when he was an assistant. But I didn’t know him or talk to him much. So I got to know him a bit at the last meetings where we had a couple days and just seems like a really good guy, good coach. And obviously history, he’s had a lot of success and done a lot of good things. So you could tell he’s a heck of coach.”

Not a hint of animosity between these two professionals. A pair of veteran head coaches who both respect the heck out of the job the other had done. Sounds like the respect is mutual from Napier’s end as well.

Billy Napier praises Mark Stoops

Billy Napier was also asked about the opposing coach in the upcoming Florida-Kentucky game. And for longtime Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, he had nothing but respect for the program. Here were his comments:

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Stoops and what he’s been able to do there,” Napier said. “Just the consistency, their improvement as a program. To win 10 games last year — his teams, I’ve always had respect for his teams because I think they’re sound. I think they know who they are on offense, defense and special teams. I see a good set of fundamentals in all three phases and they do a good job of evaluating players and they’ve got some height, length and speed. They have some unique players that maybe weren’t highly regarded, but they’re just as good as anybody in the country. This is a good, developmental program that I have nothing but respect for.

“You’ve got to beat Kentucky. They’re going to make you beat them. I think they’re a well-coached team and I got a lot of respect for the intangibles, the effort, the fundamentals. All the things that coaches respect, they do those things.”