Napier’s Chalk Talk: ‘You’re Always Learning”

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Per his customary end-of-practice routine, Billy Napier‘s team was huddled en masse early Thursday evening, snug up flush against the 10-yard line. The Florida coach rolled through a few post-practice talking points and then introduced a guest speaker with a loaded football resume of 19 seasons coaching in college and another 22 in the NFL. 

Rich Bisaccia, currently assistant head coach and special teams coordinator of the Green Bay Packers but once a cross-state confidante of Napier’s in South Carolina, stepped in front of the group and immediately ordered them to close ranks. A few of them inched forward, but not close enough to his liking. 

“Squeeze it in. Tighter!” Bisaccia barked, his distinct Yonkers, N.Y. diction on display. “There. Now you look like a [expletive] team.” 

Bisaccia proceeded to deliver a succinct but passionate chat more than four coaching decades in the making. From Wayne State to South Carolina to Clemson to Ole Miss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (and a Super Bowl title) to the San Diego Chargers to the Dallas Cowboys to the Oakland-turned-Las Vegas Raiders (with a stint as interim head coach) and on to Green Bay. Bisaccia, 62, had a world of wisdom to impart, but took only three minutes of these young men’s time. 

There were 105 players kneeling before him. One hundred of them, Bisaccia predicted, weren’t going to listen. 

“So what I have to say is for you five that will,” he told them. 

Bisaccia spoke briefly about decision-making and how it can be a deal-breaker at the next level (the level every player in front of him aspires to). He talked about three things in life a person cannot buy: Health, love and time. Take care of your bodies, find something and someone to love, and cherish every day. 

“You can never get today back. You can never get this practice back,” Bisaccia said. “I hope every one of you takes care of himself, finds something you can’t wait to do and love to do when you get up in the morning, and that you don’t waste one second of one hour of one day of one week of one year.” 

About an hour later, Bisaccia was mic’ed up and walking a podium on the floor of Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center giving a longer, more focused talk — complete with power point — before a gathering of about 150 high school coaches. They came to UF for Napier’s second annual “Chalk Talk” coaches clinic, a professional development endeavor Napier staged during his time at University of Louisiana and brought…