{"id":21816,"date":"2025-10-27T02:54:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T02:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/21816\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T02:54:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T02:54:15","slug":"how-former-florida-coach-urban-meyer-helped-the-gators-ahead-of-uga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/21816\/","title":{"rendered":"How former Florida coach Urban Meyer helped the Gators ahead of UGA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida Gators<\/a> fired coach Billy Napier ahead of their Nov. 1 game against the Georgia Bulldogs<\/a>. In the aftermath of Napier’s firing, Florida<\/a> had a bye week to reorganize. The Gators named receivers coach Billy Gonzalez as their interim coach.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez has been complimentary<\/a> of Napier and “has nothing but great things to say” about the former Gators coach. Gonzalez is “honored and humbled” to be the interim coach at Florida.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez is in a tough situation. The Gators are 3-4 and 2-2 in SEC play this season. Florida has a difficult remaining schedule and will have a tough time making a bowl game.<\/p>\n

After Gonzalez learned he would be the interim coach, he contacted the last Florida coach to win a national championship: Urban Meyer.<\/p>\n

“I wanted to have a chance to talk to him a little bit about the team concept,” Gonzalez said on his conversation with Meyer. “One of the unique things he talked about, and we talked about, is you’re walking into a situation where it’s not the perfect situation for you, Billy, but at the same time you want to make sure you’re here for the players. We’ve got a bunch of seniors on this football team. We’ve got a bunch of underclassmen that are fighting and are going to do everything they can to be successful.”<\/p>\n

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Meyer coached Gonzalez when he was in college, so it makes sense why he reached out to the former Gators coach. Meyer was successful coaching against Georgia<\/a>, and he hopes the Gators will get their program back on track.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez thinks Florida’s team is resilient and will not give up despite Napier’s firing. We’ll find out on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET (televised on ABC) how the new era of Florida football will look against Georgia.<\/p>\n

Follow UGA Wire on Instagram<\/a> or Threads<\/a> for more Georgia football coverage!<\/p>\n