Why former Clemson coach believes Billy Napier would be successful at South Carolina
When Tommy Bowden was the head coach at Clemson from 1999 to 2008, he had two coaches on his staff who he thought would leave for better opportunities before long.
One was receivers coach Dabo Swinney. The other was tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Billy Napier.
“When I was a head coach, I had a plan for moving Dabo up, and I had a plan for moving Billy up,” Bowden says now. “I thought both of them I’d lose. They have so many of the same qualities.”
Swinney, of course, became the head coach at Clemson in 2008 on an interim basis, before taking over the program full time starting with the 2009 season. He has led the Tigers to a pair of national titles and five consecutive College Football Playoff berths.
Napier has only recently gotten his shot to be a head coach, taking over at Louisiana in 2018. He’s put together a 25-11 record over the past three years, including an 11-3 mark last season. The Ragin’ Cajuns are currently 7-1 and will play in the Sun Belt Championship next month.
Napier is on the University of South Carolina’s short list to replace Will Muschamp and has had conversations with USC’s administration about the Gamecocks’ job, a source confirmed to The State. If Napier is the choice, his former colleagues and those who know him well say he’ll bring attention to detail, a bright offensive mind and a great ability as a recruiter to Columbia.
Playing days, coaching start
Before Napier was one of the hottest up-and-coming coaches in the country, he was a quarterback at Furman University in Upstate, South Carolina.
Those who knew him then insist you could tell at the time that he would be a coach one day.
“He was one of those quarterbacks who knew a lot, knew the offense inside and out. Prided himself on knowing exactly where to go with the ball, exactly what was going on with the defense,” former college teammate and current Furman assistant Brian Bratton said. “I remember coaches giving him some freedom to change plays depending on the front and him being able to handle all of that.”
Napier’s father — Bill Napier — was a longtime high school coach in Georgia. Billy grew up around the game and attended camps at Furman, before signing to play QB there.
He led the Paladins to the 2001 national championship game and got into coaching as a graduate assistant at Clemson in 2003 after his college playing career was over.
“He has a lot of confidence in his ability. He played quarterback and the quarterback has to know everything, from protections to how to attack the secondary to blocking schemes. He’s got to have a master of whichever offense. At Furman that’s what he did,” Bowden said. “He carried that trait over to the coaching profession.”
Time at Clemson
Even during Napier’s first stint at Clemson as a graduate assistant in his early 20s, he did not lack for confidence.
“He stood out,” Bowden said. “I remember him as a young GA in the press box, I’d be on the phone with the offensive coordinator trying to figure out what play to call, and we’d get in the red zone and Billy would start piping in. He’d start piping in with these ideas. You’d have to tell him to be quiet because there’s really only communication for so many.”
Napier got his first opportunity as an on-field assistant at South Carolina State in 2005, working under Buddy Pough. He spent one year there, before returning to Clemson as Bowden’s tight ends coach at 27 years old.
Bowden said at the time that he was hiring Napier in part because of his recruiting ability. He describes him now as “a tenacious recruiter.”
“He’s got a great relationship with players, which Dabo does. He can articulate a message, not only to his players, but to his alumni. You’ve gotta speak different languages, one to your Board of Trustees, one to your fans, one to your players, one to the media. And Dabo has acquired that skill,” Bowden said. “I thought Dabo and Billy had very similar characteristics, and that’s one of the reasons I hired Billy so young.”
When Swinney was hired as the full-time coach at Clemson in 2009, he promoted Napier to offensive coordinator. At 30 years old, Napier was the youngest coordinator in Clemson history and the youngest in the ACC.
“He was really a catalyst that started changing our offensive philosophy about playing fast, playing with tempo and wearing out your opponent,” former Clemson offensive lineman Dalton Freeman said. “He was really young and didn’t have a whole lot of experience but was wise beyond his years.”
In Napier’s first year as offensive coordinator, the Tigers set a school record for points scored in a season and won nine games.
However, with C.J. Spiller and Jacoby Ford gone in 2010, and a young offense overall, Clemson took a step back in Napier’s second season as the OC. Swinney decided to make a change at the end of the 2010 season.
Clemson’s offense dropped off in part because the talent on the roster simply wasn’t as good. The Tigers had several inexperienced players at key positions.
Chad Morris was hired as Clemson’s offensive coordinator in 2011, and the unit experienced great success under Morris. But some of that success has to do with the fact that the Tigers had stud wideouts in Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins, a rising star at quarterback in Tajh Boyd and a future NFL running back in Andre Ellington.
The Tigers had six future NFL receivers on the 2011 team, including three who are still playing in the league today, and it’s fair to expect that Napier would have been able to put up points with that kind of talent in 2011 as well.
“I think a lot of it is timing and being at the right place at the right time,” Freeman said. “Coach Swinney was trying to still build his foundation and coach Napier helped with that. We did a lot of great things. We broke a lot of records in 2009 when he was the offensive coordinator. We won a big game at Miami in overtime in 2009 with coach Napier. We did a lot of great things, and he was definitely a big part of us having a special year.”
Rise to head coach
From Clemson, Napier went to Alabama for a year and served as an analyst under Nick Saban.
He then resumed working as a full-time assistant coach with stops at Colorado State (2012), Alabama (2013-16) and Arizona State (2017), before being hired as the head coach at Louisiana prior to the 2018 season.
Napier is in a unique spot as a young head coach on the rise who has learned under both Swinney and Saban.
“I’ve been impressed watching him at Louisiana, just the way his kids play and the way they carry themselves,” said Furman head coach Clay Hendrix, who was an assistant for the Paladins when Napier played there. “They remind me of watching a Clemson or Alabama team play from that standpoint. Those two teams carry themselves a little different. Not a lot of foolishness. When you watch them play they just play.”
According to those who know Napier well, he has taken bits and pieces of what he learned from Swinney and Saban and implemented that into his own program, while adding his own twist to it.
Saban is a head coach with a defensive background. Swinney had never been a coordinator before being hired at Clemson. In contrast, Napier was an offensive coordinator by the age of 30.
“We’ve studied them, because they do some neat things offensively. He’s not really copied any of those places where he’s been. He’s kind of doing his own thing,” Hendrix said. “He’s got a really good offensive mind. He uses his personnel well. They’re tough. You can tell that. They can run the ball. I think that’s how they’re built.”
Is Napier a fit at South Carolina?
Napier has interest in the South Carolina job, sources told The State. And Bowden believes he would do a solid job in Columbia.
“He’s got an impressive resume in the fact that he got hired by me at a very young age. And then being around Dabo, being around Nick Saban, what he did at Arizona State with Todd Graham, he’s got the experience,” Bowden said. “He’s got enough head-coaching pedigree in his background with his dad and guys he’s been around, successful guys. He’s run his own program.”
Napier is described as a guy who pays attention to every detail of a program and who has a plan for every situation.
From the support staff to the recruiting graphics to the nutrition plan — every detail matters.
He is also described as a tireless recruiter, someone who puts in the work and knows how to get results on the recruiting trail.
“I know he can recruit, because I’ve seen it firsthand,” Bowden said. “If you’re at South Carolina, you better be able to recruit. You better. Because the state’s not heavily populated. So there are good players, but you don’t have a large number of them. So you’ve gotta be able to compete in Georgia, North Carolina and other places. And he can do that.”
Bowden added that Napier wouldn’t be intimidated going up against Clemson and Georgia every year. He has connections to the area and would be able to sign his fair share of top recruits in South Carolina and Georgia, particularly with Georgia and Clemson going more and more national with their recruiting efforts.
“I think he’s got everything that they would look for,” Bowden said. “Some guys, he’s one and Dabo’s one ... they’ve got an ability when they walk in a home to articulate a message that an 18-year-old can understand and make him feel important and make him feel like he’s the No. 1 guy that he’s recruiting.”
Gamecocks athletic director Ray Tanner has said that he is looking for an offensive coach, and Napier is certainly that. He would likely work with USC’s quarterbacks and call plays at South Carolina if hired, according to a source.
Napier spoke with USC recently via video chat while he quarantined after testing positive for COVID-19, SportsTalkSC reported.
Louisiana is averaging 31 points and 436 yards per game this season. The Ragin’ Cajuns upset No. 13 Iowa State in Week 1 and their only loss this year is to No. 20 Coastal Carolina on a last-second field goal.
Louisiana is averaging 31 points and 436 yards per game this season. The Ragin’ Cajuns upset No. 13 Iowa State in Week 1 and their only loss this year is to No. 20 Coastal Carolina on a last-second field goal.
“He’s one of those guys that eats, drinks and sleeps football. He’s got a work ethic like no other,” Bratton said. “Obviously, he had a reputation of being a good recruiter when he first got started, and I can see why. He builds great relationships and his personality and all that stuff. He’s good all the way around from my experiences.”
Will that ultimately land him in Columbia where he could go from working under Swinney to coaching against him? Only time will tell, but those who know Napier well believe South Carolina would be hard-pressed to make a better hire.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Why former Clemson coach believes Billy Napier would be successful at South Carolina."
