Swampcast talks about the football camp in Florida and the Olympics
In this week’s Swampcast, The Sun’s Kevin Brockway and David Whitley talk with colleague Noah Ram about the fall football camp in Florida and the Florida Olympians.
It was almost 11 p.m. and Chris Reynolds was feeling fine. His shift at the Florida football facility usually lasted until midnight, but chances were he would be home early.
“Maybe I can get out of here at 11:30,” he said. “I’d be happy about that.”
Reynolds is a janitor at the Heavener soccer training center. Keeping the 13,000-square-foot complex clean is hard enough without the sloppy residents.
In his 20-plus years as a building cleaner at UF, Reynolds has seen his fair share of drool. I asked what it looks like these days.
Reynolds grinned and said – no joke – “It’s great to be a Florida Gator.”
Why?
The building’s primary residents clean up their trash, greet Chris, the maintenance man, as he pushes his cart through the halls, and generally treat the place like it’s their apartment and a date they really want to impress is coming by.
“Everyone has their part to do, you know what I mean?” Reynolds said. “When the coach came, it was just a matter of approval.”
The coach would of course be Billy Napier. Since his arrival, he has preached the importance of adapting to a new culture.
Coaches like to throw around the word “culture.” But what exactly is “culture”?
“It’s a set of beliefs and values that ultimately influence the outcome,” Napier said. “We believe in that strongly.”
It’s about being responsible, selfless, punctual, positive, polite, disciplined and a strong leader. The basic philosophy is that better people make better players and ultimately better contributors in the real world.
“I firmly believe that a player who lacks character will eventually let you down,” said Napier
To which many Gator fans these days would respond: “That’s great, but I firmly believe we should beat Kentucky. And at that point, I would take P Diddy as quarterback.”
Admittedly, a good company culture does not guarantee victory. But a bad company culture guarantees that it will be more difficult to win.
So how do you build a good team?
“Little things,” Ed Reed once said.
The Hall of Fame safety said this in an interview with Joe Buck, referring to Baltimore’s locker room before the 2012 season.
Reed said players would leave towels on the floor. They wouldn’t walk a mile to throw balled-up tape into a trash can. They expected the cleaning crew to do all the dirty work.
Reed attacked his teammates, calling them “subhumans” and demanding that they show more respect to the cleanup crew.
“We won’t win if you don’t do the little things,” he said.
In Florida, new strength coach Tyler Miles is bringing home the Reed gospel, which he learned while growing up on a Kansas farm and getting up at 4 a.m. to feed animals.
There were no days off, no excuses and no shortcuts.
“You don’t just do your job by the book,” Miles said. “You do your best.”
Reynolds has watched players go about their duties. A few years ago, there was an area of the locker room known as “The Junk Palace.” Now, the locker room would receive the “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval.
“I mean, it’s our home. You want to keep it clean,” said tackle Austin Barber. “I don’t want to come home and see someone trashing my house.”
It’s nice that the players can eat off the floor, but will that really help them beat Georgia?
“I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal,” Miles said, “but it is a big deal. All the little things add up and matter.”
Reed would agree. After the tirade in the locker room, the players’ attitude changed.
“Without a doubt,” he said, “we have begun to come together.”
A few months later, the Ravens popped champagne in their locker room and held up the Lombardi Trophy.
None of this means the Gators will win the Super Bowl this year or even beat Kentucky.
But it’s the little things that matter. If their football skills aren’t enough, at least they’ve learned some life skills.
That counts for something. Just ask Chris, the caretaker.
David Whitley is a sports columnist for the Gainesville Sun. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @DavidEWhitley
