Q&A With Louisiana Head Football Coach Billy Napier

[NewsCopy]

On Dec. 18, 2017, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns named Billy Napier the 26th head football coach in school history._ After three plus months at the helm, and three weeks of spring football, Ragin' Cajuns.com sat down with coach Napier for a Q & A session, to discuss a range of topics that spanned from his family, to what he's learned in over 16 years of coaching experience.

Ragin' Cajuns.com: What about Louisiana and being a part of the Ragin' Cajuns drew you to taking the job here?
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Billy Napier: "My experience at Alabama, recruiting the state of Louisiana, allowed me to become more familiar with the state._ I know what's in Lafayette, in regard to the quality of life and the resources that are here, and that really spoke to me._ Coach Mark Hudspeth did a great job here, directing the program in the right direction and improving the situation that was here._ As an observer from afar I saw the great things that were being done here, and that really intrigued me and peaked my interest in the job._

Louisiana checked a lot of boxes for me, including the fact that we can have a lot of success and my wife and kids will have the quality of life that they deserve to have._ And then I began to talk to Bryan Maggard, Ph.D. (Director of Athletics) and saw what his vision of where this place can and will go._ That along with the resources that are out there, if we can rally Cajun Nation around the program, all played a part in wanting to take this job."

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LOUISIANA AC

[cajun_lannister]

Fetch me a fresh pair of pants

RC:_You spent roughly six seasons at Alabama under head coach Nick Saban, how was that?_ And what did you bring with you here to Louisiana that you learned from coach Saban?
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BN:_"The core of what we do here is based off of my experiences under coach Saban in terms of the big picture plan of everything in the program._ Coach Saban has great experience and he's implemented that into everything from the purpose of camps and recruiting philosophies, to how you manage your time during the day._ He'd probably tell you that he's narrowed down what works through trial and error._
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What gets overlooked when talking about coach Saban is that he's a great teacher and he does a great job of building the players, with a yearlong development for the players._ One of the things we're trying to build is that we don't want to be results orientated over the path of building the program, and one of the phrases that we coined here is 'That The Journey Starts Here' and we want to have the journey mentality._
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Knowing that there's going to be ups and downs maximizing our effort through it all._ I had coached for almost 10 years, before the 2011 National Championship season, and I feel that I might have learned more in that one season then in my previous 10."

[Crawfish]

I am ready for the media to stop asking about Debo and Saban. It is his time now, he needs to discuss his philosophies now.

[Rainman66]

Given the time and the resources, I am convinced Coach Napier will be successful.