GAINESVILLE – Florida interim football coach Billy Gonzales called Urban Meyer on Sunday night after found out he would be taking over the Gators program.
The two had crossed paths multiple times: Meyer coached Gonzales, then a receiver, at Colorado State. The two worked together at Bowling Green, and then again with the Gators between 2005 and 2009, including the national championship wins in 2006 and 2008.
But Sunday night, Gonzales needed Meyer’s advice with a different situation. Florida fired coach Billy Napier, and athletic director Scott Stricklin called up Gonzales, a coaching veteran working with UF’s receivers, to take the reins earlier in the day.
“It’s not a perfect situation, but nothing in life is,” Gonzales said during a news conference Monday. “These players are resilient. They’re tough. They’re competitors. And they don’t have quit anywhere in their DNA.”
One thing Meyer did mention, according to Gonzales, was he should “make sure you’re here for the players.” But how long will he be here?
History is not on Gonzales’ side. While Florida’s most successful interim coach, Galen Hall, finished the season undefeated, the rest stumbled. Excluding Hall, Florida interim coaches have a 6-9 overall record. The last interim to win more than one game was Gary Darnell in 1989.
Gonzales’ first task will be assigning the coaching roles, including who will help him coach up a talented group of young receivers for the final five games. He was clear that there wouldn’t be any staff firings.
A stagnant offense during the Napier era will see the biggest changes in hopes of reaching its potential with talent on all levels, including Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson and quarterback DJ Lagway. Quarterback coach Ryan O’Hara will assume play-calling responsibilities to preserve continuity between practice and games.
“He knows what I like, he knows what I don’t like. He knows what I excel at. He knows what I need to work on. So, it’s going to be great,” Lagway said. “Having that player-coach communication is going to be huge, and I’m excited for it.”
Napier played a large part in constructing the current roster, tied together through trust. Now with him gone, Gonzales and the program’s next head coach are tasked with keeping the team from fracturing in the era of NIL and an active transfer portal.
Lagway and center Jake Slaughter, among the Gators’ other leaders, understand the importance of pushing forward, rather than dwelling in the past. They expect to feed off Gonzales’ personality in face of adversity.
“He’s fired up, he’s awesome,” said Slaughter, who played with Gonzales’ son at Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala. “He loves on his guys, and he expects a lot out of them.”
Perhaps the greatest gift Napier left Gonzales and the team is the fundamentals to move on. His constant reminders to block out the noise —even as pressure mounted with each loss this season — will ring true starting on Nov. 1 after the bye week, against Georgia in Jacksonville.
As a two-time national championship winner, Gonzales is also a symbol of Florida’s aspirations.
“We can’t control what happens,” linebacker Myles Graham said. “So we’ll just keep rolling, keep playing for the logo. When I came here, I definitely came to play with Coach Napier. More importantly, I came to play for the logo.”
Where Napier preached calm, cool and collected, Florida turned to Gonzales because he has heart and speaks with a fiery passion, backed by the resources of a school that no longer has excuses to fail.
As Gonzales stood in front of a crowded news conference, he patted his heart and the Gators patch on his shirt.
“You play for the patch. That’s the most important thing,” he said. “We play for the
patch. You represent your name on the back of your jersey. When you put them together, you get something special.”
