How Influential Has Kirby Smart Been in Gators HC Billy Napier's Career?

Kirby Smart helped Billy Napier "off the streets" at Alabama in 2011. Over a decade — and for Smart, a national championship — later, the two will meet as head coaches for the first time when Florida faces Georgia.

If it weren't for Georgia head coach Kirby Smart's presence in the offices that occupy the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility in 2011 — what Florida's Billy Napier deems to have been the most valuable year of his career — Alabama head coach Nick Saban may have never offered Napier a role as an analyst on his Crimson Tide staff.

And if that were the case, Napier probably wouldn't be the Gators' head coach right now. He said as much on Monday during his weekly press conference, five days ahead of Florida's biggest rivalry game of the year against Smart's No. 1 Bulldogs. 

"Heck," Napier began to avow regarding Smart, "[I] wouldn't be standing here today without him." 

The off-field role, as Napier once put it in conversation with Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger, lifted him "off the streets" after his early 2011 dismissal from Clemson, where he was at one point the youngest offensive coordinator in the country under head coach Dabo Swinney. 

Smart, then Alabama's defensive coordinator, vouched for Napier at the time, aware of the recently ousted play-caller given their roots in the Peach State. Albeit in different areas, Napier and Smart's fathers — Bill and Sonny, respectively — were decorated high school coaches in Georgia, leading to interactions between the now-college coaches in what Smart called a "very similar" upbringing on Monday. 

"There was some familiarity there and certainly [Smart's] influence on that with coach Saban. He had a lot to do with me being there. I will always be thankful for that," Napier said. "Kirby, we didn't know each other extensively but because of our dads being coaches, seeing each other on the road, I mean, heck I was 29 or something like that."

Napier and Smart would spend four years together at Alabama in total. Napier accepted the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach positions at Colorado State in 2012, but returned to Tuscaloosa the next season as the Crimson Tide's wide receivers coach and remained in the role through 2016. Smart left Alabama to become Georgia's head coach following the 2015 season.

Smart believed immediately upon Napier’s arrival, and his conviction only strengthened over their years together under Saban, that Napier was cut out for life as a football coach.

"I knew from the first time he got to Alabama," Smart remembered of Napier, "I don't know what year it was, but whatever year he got there, he was going to be really good because he paid attention to detail. He took a lot of notes. He was just really smart.

"You knew he was there to learn. And I think he capitalized on his time he spent there to look at football from a different perspective maybe from what he looked at previously."

Now, the two are on opposite ends of what is one of the SEC's most storied and impassioned rivalries.

The Gators, sitting at 4-3 with a 1-3 conference record amid Napier's first season in charge, will head to Jacksonville, Fla. this weekend to take on Smart's No. 1, undefeated Bulldogs on Saturday. While UGA aims to repeat as national champions this season, Napier has challenged UF's players and staff to "stay focused on what we know winning football looks like" to improve the team's trajectory. 

Napier admitted on Monday that he has looked to and evaluated Smart's progression as Georgia's head coach while developing and implementing his vision for Florida football. 

The result of Smart's six years of effort was the Bulldogs' first national title victory in over 40 years to conclude the 2021 season, as well as some sustained success, as UGA maintains its ranking as the best team in the land this year.

"Kirby is a heck of a football coach, man," Napier said. "I think, you think about what he's done at Georgia, you know, I'm going back and evaluating kind of each year. Year seven, what was year one, two, three, four, five for him like? He's done a fantastic job.

"I told him that the first time I saw him at the SEC coach's meeting. [He] had just won the national championship and it's pretty well documented all that goes into that ... he is a competitor and certainly [I have] a ton of respect."

Unlike Georgia, Florida's on-field product hasn't been of championship-caliber since, well, the Gators' last crown in 2008. 

While Napier has understandably taken on a rebuild, following in the footsteps of three failed head coaches since Urban Meyer's stepping away from UF in 2011, Florida has underwhelmed seven games into his tenure and is viewed as 22.5-point underdogs to the Bulldogs this weekend. That is, according to OnlyGators.com, the largest single-game point spread between the programs in available data since 1995. 

Win or lose on Saturday, the Gators have a long way to go under Napier before emerging as a College Football Playoff contender like their arch-rival, Smart-led Bulldogs. 

There's something that can be learned from Smart's now-seven-year approach to producing a powerhouse, Napier believes, repeating a point he made following Florida's most recent loss to LSU on Oct. 15: There are no shortcuts to take while turning a program around.

"I mean, I think that there's no shortcuts," Napier said. "I think that, the same things I've said about where we're at and what we need to do. It gives you good perspective about what's required. It doesn't happen overnight. 

"I think the key here is it's one day at a time. Again, go back to what I said earlier. Don't get discouraged by continuing to make good choices and decisions and create good habits and good systems in-house. Keep going about it the right way. Make sure you're sound in what you're doing, one day at a time, one person at a time, and ultimately that's what we're doing."

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