Billy Napier creates a winning #cULture with famous Bill Walsh quote

Florida coach Billy Napier sat down with Gators Online for an exclusive one-on-one interview. In a four-part series this week, Gators Online will profile Napier with a focus on his #cULture, #jOURney, #UFuture and #UFormula.

***

GAINESVILLE — As Billy Napier sits back down in the chair, he takes off his reading glasses and sets them next to his still-steaming Starbucks coffee. 

Napier’s desk, like his football program, is organized to a T. It includes some paperwork, books and other reading materials at his fingertips. 

“Man, I read a lot. I spend a lot of time reading,” Napier says. “I just think over time, you learn that everything I know I stole from somebody else.”

Napier followed in the footsteps of his father, Georgia high school football coaching legend Bill Napier, and soaked up the college game for half a decade from the sport’s greatest coach, Nick Saban. 

Napier has drawn from many others in the profession, either by working with them or studying their success. 

“I’m into anyone who’s had success no matter what they do. In particular, someone that’s in your line of work,” Napier says. 

His Twitter account features a host of famous quotes by Muhammad Ali, Bill Belichick, Vince Lombardi, Greg Popovich and John Wooden. Napier dials ’em up like ball plays, but isn’t one-dimensional. 

His feed also includes quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Bill Gates and even Mother Teresa. 

“I’m always looking for ways to get a little bit better and ways to help people,” Napier says. “You get put in these leadership positions and you realize that you gotta have a vision, you gotta have a message. 

“You gotta have material ready. You’re trying to shape the mindset of a group, and I think that oftentimes using other resources to reinforce your messages helps.”

Napier’s favorite quote

Since becoming a head coach, there’s one quote Napier has used the most to reinforce his message. He tweeted it four separate times at Louisiana, pinning it to his profile. 

It’s a quote by Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh, who won three Super Bowls with the 49ers and devised the West Coast offense. 

“The culture precedes positive results. Champions behave like champions before they’re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.”

Napier shared the quote in the spring and summer of 2018 as he prepared for his first season as a head coach. He led Louisiana to a 7-7 record that fall following three straight losing seasons. 

After the Ragin’ Cajuns won the Sun Belt West title on Nov. 24, 2018, Napier once again tweeted Walsh’s quote that night. Not so much to celebrate the championship, but his #cULture. 

“I like to think it’s a little bit of a reminder that we’re in the game for a little bit more than just winning, if that makes sense. I think we’ve got a lot more to teach than just how to block and tackle and throw and catch,” Napier says of Walsh’s quote. 

“We want to teach a set of values as being part of the program. We want to challenge the staff to model what we would expect from the players. That’s not just on the players, but the organization as a whole. I think Bill Walsh is notorious for that part.” 

A culture of success

In Walsh’s book, The Score Takes Care of Itself, he shares his philosophy on leadership and secrets to success with San Francisco. Walsh’s first order of business was establishing what he called a Standard of Performance.

The catalyst was his culture. 

– Your first job as a new coach should be to create a culture of success.

– Creating, communicating, implementing, and sustaining the right team culture is the key catalyst to lasting success.

– Instilling the right culture almost always takes time. 

“I had never wavered in my dedication to installing — teaching — those actions and attitudes I believed would create a great team, a superior organization. I knew that if I achieved that, the score would take care of itself,” Walsh writes. 

“When you know that your peers — others in the organization — demand and expect a lot out of you and you, in turn, out of them, that’s when the sky’s the limit.” 

The Ragin’ Cajuns improved to 11 victories in 2019 and clinched their second straight division title before winning the 2020 Sun Belt Conference Co-Championship, finishing the year ranked No. 15 in the AP Top-25. 

As Louisiana started spring practice in 2021, Walsh’s quote made its first appearance on Napier’s Twitter account in more than two years. With the program reaching new heights, it was time to remind everyone what brought them there.

“Just trying to create a working environment for the people in our organization with high expectations and a certain standard relative to professionalism and treating people the right way, a certain attention to detail and urgency,” Napier says. 

“But also, a pace to life that is respectable, if that makes sense. I think it’s important that the players understand that it’s not only how you perform but how you behave, how you live life. We want to have the type of place where they’re doing both well.”

The #cULture Napier created in Lafayette culminated with an outright Sun Belt championship, an unblemished conference record (8-0) and a 12-game winning streak in 2021, all firsts for the program. Napier took Louisiana to unprecedented success with a 40-12 record in four years after coaching on multiple title teams at Alabama, making him the No. 1 target for Florida athletics director Scott Stricklin. 

Stricklin wasn’t just looking for a championship-caliber coach, but one whose culture fostered consistent and sustained success. A day after hiring Napier, Stricklin liked this tweet from author Kevin DeShazo.

“A reminder: If I’m hiring a coach, I hire a culture builder. Every coach will know the game but can they connect, communicate a clear vision, hire/recruit/develop people well? It’s about more than X’s and O’s. Their success will hinge on their leadership and culture.”

After beating Appalachian State 24-16 in his final game at Louisiana to win the Sun Belt, Napier boarded a private jet the following morning to be introduced by Stricklin to Gator Nation. 

Less than 10 minutes after taking off from Lafayette for Gainesville, Napier fired off his first tweet as Florida’s head coach 40,000 feet above ground. It’s been pinned to his profile ever since.

“The culture precedes positive results. Champions behave like champions before they’re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.” – Bill Walsh#GoGators | @GatorsFB pic.twitter.com/h2aGSybr0v

— COACH BILLY NAPIER (@coach_bnapier) December 5, 2021