Thousands and thousands of parking tickets for Florida football players over the years will now likely be limited to a handful a year thanks to new head coach Billy Napier stepping up in his first weeks on campus and finding an answer to the problem. A close parking lot to the stadium opened just for the football players and is the envy of some Gator Greats who had to deal with much less desirable parking circumstances when they were playing.
Working in the media covering the players for 19 years, I have heard the horror stories about all the tickets and the boots on the wheels. There have been stories of players breaking their cars out of the tow lots over night and getting caught.
Parking has really been an issue for players who have to spend an inordinate amount of time on campus and especially near the stadium and practice facility. Napier recognized the problem quickly upon his arrival and found an answer for the football players with an open area north of the stadium that is sometimes used for media parking and was changed to allow the players to park there.
At the Orange and Blue spring game last month, Gator Great punter Johnny Townsend hosted former players for his foundation which helps bring awareness to the Children’s Oncology Unit at UF Health and Shands Hospital. The event actually happened right in the area that the current players get to park their cars during school days.
This was a great time to ask them about a simple move like this that has been needed for decades and what it would have meant to them. Some of them just couldn’t believe it.
“I wish they would have integrated that a little sooner,” said former quarterback Kyle Trask who has only been away from campus for a year. “But I’m happy for them and it probably helps them with parking tickets. I had a few in my day. Fortunately I never got a boot. I bet half the team had a boot so this is a good thing for the program to have the better parking.”
They really understand what something like this would have meant for them.
“We’re all so envious, there’s no other way to put it,” Johnny Townsend said. “Just the parking situation would have been a game changer for us. But seeing all that they have with the amenities and that new facility, it’s really special.”
His brother Tommy Townsend didn’t know about it and was in real disbelief in hearing about it. He mentioned that he got plenty of tickets in his time on campus.
“No way, this is their parking lot?” the Kansas City Chief punter asked with wide eyes. “That would have been nice. We fought the UAA for years trying to get parking passes and all of that stuff. I didn’t even know. Hundreds of dollars, hundreds and hundreds of dollars (in tickets). The parking passes we could get, it made no sense to even go to those lots. It was just like I might as well just stay home and walk. Dang, I’m excited for the new players. It’s really one of those things that I wish I had when I was here.”
Defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard was a wrecking ball early last decade for Florida and has been playing in the NFL ever since leaving. He put it bluntly about the tickets being an inevitable price to pay in order to get where the players needed to be
“That’s great,” he said when he found out he was standing in the new parking lot. “That’s great because the cars always got booted. When you’re running late and doing something you don’t want to do and you had to run here, You know you were going to get booted but you take that chance sometimes, so that’s good they got their own parking now. That’s awesome. It should have been like that.”
Cornerback Brian Poole came to Florida at the same time as Bullard and has been playing in the NFL ever since leaving the program. He has no good memories of parking on campus.
“I started out with a scooter and eventually got a car,” Poole said. “Countless (boots) I think I might still be paying for tickets.”
Then I told him he was standing where the players get to park.
“That’s a thing?” he looked around surprised. “So they don’t have to worry about being booted? Man, that’s a blessing. Only if they knew what they were getting themselves out of with that one.”
Offensive lineman Carl Johnson was a part of two national championships in 2006 and 2008. He spent a lot of his time in Gainesville moving back and forth on a scooter, but eventually got a car. He was ready to speak to the manager when he found out about the new parking arrangement for the current players.
“It would have saved me thousands and thousands of dollars,” Johnson said. “I need someone to write me a check, about $2800. They write tickets like they’re candy here. I need the new AD to reimburse me, 16 years inflation, that’s about a good nine grand.”
By Bob Redman