When the clock hits 00:00 in the third quarter in Gainesville, Florida one of Gainesville’s very own gets played on the loud speakers. To start the fourth quarter the Gator faithful have a tradition of playing and singing Tom Petty’s famous song, “I Won’t Back Down.”
Released in 1989, the song was born out of Tom Petty’s own personal turmoil as he navigated the legal battles of losing his own home to an arson fire. The song is a tribute to toughness, courage, resolve and most importantly, resilience. Each line possesses some powerful lyrics and reveals the mindset of resilience in the face of adversity and opposition.
At the start of every fourth quarter the Gator faithful sing the song in The Swamp, making a tough stand in their home stadium and cultivating a difficult environment known as one of the hardest stadiums to play in on the road. In the fall of 2024, their resilience would be put to the test as the Billy Napier led Florida Gators were in the thrawls of a program rebuild.
After a successful head coaching run at Louisiana-Lafayette, the Florida Gators athletic director hired Billy Napier to take the helm of a program in 2022, looking to find its way back to the storied tradition. In the three years under Billy Napier, the Gators had not gotten any traction whatsoever in the tough SEC conference. His record in the first two years were 6-7 and 5-7, far from the elite standard at Florida.
Heading into the 2024 season many college football analysts wondered if this would be the end of the road for Napier. Looking to their 2024 schedule it was a gauntlet to say the least and the program had yet to find its way.
On August 31, 2024 Florida was blown out to archrival the University of Miami 41-17. Miami was ranked in the top 25 but many in the Gator faithful were frustrated and embarrassed to get blown out by a bitter rival. The heat was beginning to simmer around Billy Napier.
A few weeks later on September 14 the Gators were blown out at home in the swamp to Texas A&M 33-20. The heat was fully on and the home Gator fans, brimming with frustration literally booed Billy Napier off the field in his own stadium.
Things had gotten really bad, and the Gators had not even hit the gauntlet of their schedule yet. Peaking ahead to a stretch of four games from mid October to mid November the Gators would play four teams ranked in the top ten and five ranked in the top 25. (Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, LSU, and Ole Miss).
As Tom Petty says in his song, and never more true for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators.
“There ain’t no easy way out.”
After two must wins against Mississippi State and Central Florida (both inferior opponents) the Gators prepared to travel to Knoxville to face the #8 Tennessee Volunteers. Despite a hard fought game, they lost 17-23 in overtime.
A week later they picked up a win against Kentucky and prepared for another rivalry game against the Georgia Bulldogs kicking off a tough two week stretch against top five teams.
To start November, Florida lost to Georgia 20-34. With the loss they dropped to 4-4 on the season, and many in the college football media, Florida fan base and general college football world felt the end was here for Billy Napier.
After the Georgia loss, many in the college football media awaited the announcement of Billy Napier’s firing. Instead, a day after the embarrassing loss, the Florida administration issued a vote of confidence in Napier. Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin had this to say on November 7,
“I wanted to let you know that Billy Napier will continue as head football coach of the Florida Gators. As we’ve seen these past several weeks, the young men on this team represent what it means to be a Gator. Their resolve, effort, and execution are evident in their performance and growth each week - building a foundation that promises greater success next season and beyond.”
Despite the vote of confidence and public support from the administration no one, Billy Napier included, would admit that things were going well. 4-6 on the season with multiple brutal tests still ahead. At this point in his tenure, Billy Napier’s Gator teams had lost more games at home (6) in his first 28 games than Urban Meyer (5) had in 80 games at the helm and Steve Spurrier (5) had in 150 games leading the Florida Gators.
Just six days later, the Gators get blown out 49-17 at #5 Texas.
“There ain’t no easy way out.”
Let’s pause for a moment and personalize what was going on for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators. Can you think of a time when your back was against the wall? When you had thought you had done everything you needed to do to succeed, only to find yourself digging deeper and deeper into a hole.
How would you go about leading your group with all the negative outcomes getting stacked one after another? How would you maintain confidence in your process when you’re getting poor result after poor result?
What would you do to handle all the external noise? Being booed off your own field by your home fans?
Worse yet, how would you and your group maintain belief heading into multiple very tough contests in which, yet again you will be a heavy underdog hoping to not get blown out?
It’s in the week between November 9th and November 16th that the story began to turn for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators. We don’t know how far it will turn, whether they will carry momentum into next season and beyond, but for now I want to point out a series of events and perspectives that reveal the resilient mindset of Billy Napier and the 2024 Florida Gators.
“I Won’t Back Down.”
Heading into half time of the November 16th matchup against the #21 LSU Tigers the score was knotted at 10-10. At the end of the third quarter the two teams were tied at 13-13. And then Tom Petty arrived.
His song blaring from the speakers in The Swamp. A sold out stadium of over 88,000 fans singing in unison.
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won’t back down
Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down
A fitting song and narrative for the moment they found themself in. There is no easy way out when things aren’t going our way. No eject button. No release. We must find a way to move forward, one step at a time.
I like to imagine what was going through Billy Napier’s mind as they started the fourth quarter knotted up at 13-13. The same people singing and rooting for the Gators in that moment were the same people calling for him to be fired. This struggle and tension that exists within a passionate fanbase of belief and support but criticism for not measuring up to perceived expectations. It’s all thrown in the melting pot pursuing high performance.
The fourth quarter in Gainesville would prove to be all Gator blue. Florida outscored LSU 14-3 to get over the hump and knock off a ranked opponent. The win moved them to 5-5 and breathed a little fresh air into the entire Florida faithful.
After the game Billy Napier was asked by a reporter if the win “validated” anything. His response:
“Look I think the big thing is you have to compliment our players and staff for just staying the course. It’s no easy task to keep focused on the work in front of you and be present.”
For him, the validation was of the process. The not so easy task of keeping focused on the work in front of you to be present. He also had this to say about work:
“We talked all week about working as if you are on a one day contract. If we were to watch you the entire day and evaluate how you worked, would you get the call back for the next day?”
When you find yourself with your back against the wall, your focus and work must reign supreme.
Hope & Belief Are A Powerful Thing
While the win against LSU was great, the season marches on. A step in the right direction perhaps, but there would be no victory parades through the streets of Gainesville. Instead, the Gators would be forced to turn their present minded focus to the following Saturday when they would host a top ten team, the Ole Miss Rebels, an 8-2 team firmly in the mix for the playoffs and national championship contender.
Knotted 14-14 at half time, the Gators were firmly in it. The two teams traded field goals in the 3rd quarter to make it 17-17 when the clock hit 00:00 at the end of the 3rd. And then Tom Petty arrived again, right on cue.
Another sold out stadium of over 88,000 fans singing in unison the familiar tune and possible theme for Billy Napier and the Gators in 2024.
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won’t back down
Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down
And the Gators didn’t back down, yet again. In the fourth quarter they would score the only touchdown in a deciding score to cap off the 24-17 victory against a top ten team, and their second straight victory against a ranked opponent. In a matter of three weeks, Billy Napier went from being left for dead to the hottest name in the football world.
After the game as he left the field the same fans that booed him back in September were literally chanting his name “Billy! Billy! Billy!” The high highs and low lows of being a coach and a leader at the highest level.
Moments before the Florida faithful chanted the name of their beloved coach in a postgame interview ESPN reporter Molly McGrath asked Coach Napier what the win meant. His response:
“I’m so happy for our players and our staff. They worked so hard. Hope and belief are powerful. Somewhere along the way we started to figure it out, and realized we can play with anybody. God has been good to me, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity.”
McGrath continued with a powerful follow up. “A month ago, so much noise swirling around this program and around you, you just took down a top ten program, what did it take to get here?”
His response:
“Confidence in our people. Confidence in our process. I learned a long time ago, they love you when you win and they hate you when you lose. There’s something about the game that is conditional and there’s a life out there that is unconditional. We earned the right to win today and I’m proud of our team.”
Following the win against Ole Miss, the Gators rattled off 3 straight wins to finish the season 8-5. An obvious step forward under Billy Napier for the program, but the margins between “step forward” and “a trainwreck” are razor thin.
This is where the power of resilience becomes a strategic edge. Resilience is developed when things are going wrong. It’s also most valuable when things are going wrong.
This means it’s both an advantage being developed while things are going wrong.
What To Do When Your Back Is Against The Wall
It’s been said and said with bravado that “hope is not a strategy.” I can certainly appreciate that view and believe it to be well intentioned. I think the perspective is a bit incomplete though as we look into the turbulent few months for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators. I would challenge that the quote should read - “Hope is not a complete strategy.”
Hope certainly is a strategy. In fact, when things are not going well, some moments require hope and belief more than anything. Hope is what fuels belief and belief is the lead domino that initiates the work and the body of work creates confidence.
Hope without work will rarely lead to positive outcomes, however work without hope may be problematic as well.
Hope without work = delusional (left for dead)
Work without hope = burnt out (left for dead)
It’s the combination of it all that we see on display here for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators. In either the LSU or Ole Miss game, had the group lost belief they would have been done before the game even started. Had they splintered, started pointing fingers or rallied against their head coach they would have been dead in the water.
Hope + Belief + Work = Confidence.
Confidence is tested most when things aren’t going well.
And when things aren’t going well we must find the inner resolve like Billy Napier, and Tom Petty sang in his 1989 hit,
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won’t back down
Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down
Stay The Course,
