NEW ORLEANS — Billy Napier is back where his head coaching career began.
The former Louisiana and Florida head coach returned to Sun Belt Conference Football Media Days this week, now leading James Madison after accepting the job earlier this year. Nearly eight years after his first appearance at the league's annual event, Napier said he's returning with a much different perspective.
"I’m certainly a lot more prepared than I was eight years ago," Napier said. "It’s good to be back."
Napier takes over a James Madison program that reached the College Football Playoff last season. He said the opportunity was appealing because of the university's leadership, alignment and passionate football culture.
"I love building teams," Napier said. "It just was a fit. A lot of discernment went into that, a lot of prayer, but it has blown me away six months into it."
Conversations with former James Madison coaches, including Bob Chesney and Curt Cignetti, reinforced what Napier already believed about the program.
"They call it the Valley's team," Napier said. "They've sold out every home game. You want to be in a place where there's alignment and football is really important, and I think we have that at JMU."
Napier arrives in Harrisonburg after a three-year stint at Florida that ended before the conclusion of the 2025 season. Reflecting on his time in Gainesville, he took responsibility for the program's shortcomings.
"We have to do better," Napier said. "Ultimately, it's the head coach's responsibility. There were parts of our systems and process that we weren't good enough. The key is to take that failure and try to use that."
Among the biggest lessons he learned was how dramatically college football has changed with revenue sharing, NIL and the transfer portal.
"The ability to delegate, the ability to empower other people — you've got to hire well, and you have to be ready for attrition," Napier said. "We're building rosters and teams in a different era."
Napier also explained why he chose to relinquish play-calling duties entering the season, saying the responsibilities of a head coach have expanded significantly.
"The job has evolved where there's a lot more decisions, a lot more workflow," Napier said. "I wasn't able to bring the level of detail throughout the entire calendar year that I would like to."
Although his focus is now on James Madison, Napier continues to follow the program he built at Louisiana. He praised current Ragin' Cajuns head coach Michael Desormeaux, calling him "one of the young superstars in our profession."
"If the quarterback doesn't get injured two years ago, they win the league," Napier said. "Mike's done a phenomenal job."
Napier believes Louisiana remains one of the Sun Belt's most dangerous teams entering 2026.
"They're one of the sleepers in this league, in my opinion," he said. "This quarterback (Lunch Winfield) they have coming back is a problem, and they've played really good defense. They're going to be tough to deal with."
Napier also highlighted former Louisiana quarterback Levi Lewis, who is now on James Madison's coaching staff as an assistant wide receivers coach.
"He's a winner," Napier said. "He's got presence. He's going to be a phenomenal coach. He's a slam dunk. He'll be rocketing up this college football chain pretty soon."
As preseason camp approaches, Napier said the focus is on establishing James Madison's identity before the season opener.
"We've got 52 days to get ready," Napier said. "The goal is to dominate the competition. It takes all three phases playing complementary football."
And if everything falls into place, Napier wouldn't mind seeing his past and present programs meet with a championship on the line.
"We've got a lot of text threads about that," Napier said with a smile. "Hopefully we can make that happen. It would make me a happy man for sure."
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