COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Nearly a decade later, their brief time together is nothing more than a footnote entering Saturday’s game between Florida and Texas A&M here at Kyle Field.
But in January 2013, Gators coach Billy Napier took a job as a Seminole. Then-FSU coach Jimbo Fisher, having assembled a team that would go on to win that season’s national championship, hired Napier as FSU’s tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
Napier had spent the previous season as an assistant at Colorado State under former UF coach Jim McElwain.
“He was a bright young guy,” Fisher said this week. “I mean, I knew he’d been offensive coordinator at Clemson and did a really nice job there. I know he and Dabo parted ways, but he was doing a nice job, background in business, very nice guy. I liked him. His dad was a coach his whole life, grew up in it, and understood it. You talked to him, you knew he knew ball, thought he’d be a great addition to our staff.”
Napier spent more than a month on the job before opting to accept an offer from Alabama coach Nick Saban, who opened a door for Napier in 2011 when he was let go as Clemson’s offensive coordinator. The move turned out to be a good one for Napier.
He was part of Alabama’s 2015 national championship and was on Alabama’s staff when the Crimson Tide reeled off 26 consecutive wins over the 2015-16 seasons.
Napier and Fisher meet for the first time Saturday as head coaches.
“Jimbo gave me an opportunity,” Napier said. “He had tremendous success at Florida State, won a national championship, evaluated, recruited well. He had some fantastic coaches there and did something there that hadn’t been done in a long time. Very thankful for that opportunity.”
Napier and Fisher will be out to beat one another Saturday following their pregame chat. The Gators have lost back-to-back games. Fisher’s Aggies have lost four in a row.
While Napier is retooling Florida’s program in his first season, the pressure is on Fisher to turn around the Aggies. He is in his fifth season and had a team that some expected to compete for a national championship when the season began.
The only thing certain is that one of them will walk off Kyle Field on Saturday in a good mood, the other still chasing that elusive next victory.
For more on Saturday’s game between the Gators and Aggies, here is The Opening Kickoff:
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