Florida coach Billy Napier announced the first additions to his Gators staff on Monday, a day after his formal introduction.
Patrick Toney is coming with him from Louisiana to serve as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Toney was the Ragin’ Cajuns’ defensive coordinator under Napier for the past two seasons and helped win a Sun Belt championship both years.
This season’s defense finished ninth in scoring (18.3 points per game allowed) and in the top 25 in opponents’ passing efficiency (118.71). He has previously worked at Texas San Antonio, Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana.
Mark Hocke will be Napier’s associate head coach and director of football strength and conditioning. He, like Napier, was a part of Nick Saban’s Alabama staff, where he won three national championships. Hocke also spent time at Florida State, Georgia and Texas A&M before working under Napier for all four seasons at Louisiana.
Jabbar Juluke is UF’s running backs coach, continuing a position he held with the Ragin’ Cajuns for Napier’s whole tenure there. He produced draft picks in back-to-back years (Raymond Calais to the Bucs in 2020 and Eli Mitchell to the 49ers in the spring), but the run game continued to roll. Only 13 teams in the country rushed for more touchdowns than Louisiana. Juluke coached this year’s Sun Belt freshman of the year (Montrell Johnson), plus third-team all-conference back Chris Smith. His career also includes stops at Texas Tech and LSU.
Ryan O’Hara will be an offensive analyst for quarterbacks, continuing a role he held at Louisiana. Napier does not plan to hire a quarterbacks coach — he’ll coach the position himself — so O’Hara will play an important role at UF.
USF update
The Bulls have hired Bob Shoop as their defensive coordinator. Shoop spent this season as a defensive quality control coach at Miami and has previously been a defensive coordinator at Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Penn State and Tennessee.
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