Florida football coach Billy Napier shares thoughts on losing chief of staff to rival

It may not sting as much as losing Trevor Etienne, but Florida football lost a key staff member to rival Georgia over the weekend when Mark Robinson left the Florida Gators for the Bulldogs to become their chief of staff.

Robinson was hired as chief of staff for UF last January, essentially a front-office role to evaluate personnel in college football's new name, image and likeness and transfer portal era. He had served a similar position for six years at Texas A&M before coming to UF.

Florida coach Billy Napier praised the hire of Robinson last spring, saying his direct line of communication with Florida Victorious (UF's NIL arm) and UF recruiting personnel evaluators Jacob LaFrance and Bird Sherril led to sound decisions targeting high school recruits and players in the transfer portal.

Robinson interviewed with Georgia coach Kirby Smart last week before being hired on Saturday.

"Mark did a good job for us," Napier said. "He's a good person. It's an opportunity, a promotion in his field, more responsibility.

"I've got a lot of respect for Mark. We've known each other for a long time. He's closer to the family. It is what it is. We've had no issue attracting quality people here. We'll go find someone to do his job here."

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football coach Billy Napier shares thoughts on losing chief of staff to rival