Head coach Billy Napier and the Florida Gators ended their 2024 campaign with an 8-5 record. To continue their climb to national title contention, Napier recently hired Vinnie Sunseri as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
Billy Napier’s Praise for Vinnie Sunseri
Sunseri, who was hired as a replacement for departing DC Austin Armstrong, helped the Alabama Crimson Tide win two national championships in 2011 and 2012 as a player and just wrapped up his last job coaching safeties for the Washington Huskies last season.
Napier, who holds a 19-19 overall record with the Gators, made some eye-catching remarks about Sunseri during a press release on Jan. 30:
“Vinnie Sunseri has a great pedigree coming from a football family and has also played and coached for exceptional coaches throughout his career. He is a two-time national champion with NFL and collegiate experience. Vinnie will help our organization improve as we continue to build. I’m excited to welcome he [sic] and his wife, Kaci, to Gainesville.”
The new Florida coordinator is deep-rooted in college football heritage. His dad, Sal Sunseri, is a well-known football coach who worked with the Gators and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
Sunseri had some praise for Napier as well. In a press release of his own, he wrote:
“I’m incredibly excited to join Coach Napier, his outstanding staff, and the University of Florida. Coaching in a premier conference like the SEC has been a lifelong dream. I’m ready to work with young, talented, and motivated players and help them achieve success on and off the field.”
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Sunseri also has NFL experience—both as a player and coach—having worked with the New England Patriots for four years. He started as a defensive assistant in 2020 and coached running backs from 2021 to 2023.
Sunseri will help build up the Gators, who ranked 75th in total defense and allowed 376.9 yards per game in 2024. He has a track record of helping build up defensive players, as evident in Patriots Rhamondre Stevenson breaking a 1,000-yard rushing record and Damien Harris’ 929-yard, 15-touchdown season during Sunseri’s time in New England.
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