Florida Gators
Encyclopedia
The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida
located in Gainesville, Florida
. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as the "Gator Nation."
(SEC) over the past two decades, and consistently as one of the best in the nation. During the 2010–2011 school year, the Gators men's and women's teams combined to win the Southeastern Conference All-Sports Trophy for the twenty-first time in the past twenty-four years. Every year since 1983, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
(NACDA) has recognized the Gators athletic program as one of the ten best overall Division I athletic programs in the country in its annual NACDA Directors' Cup standings.
Among the Gators' recent national championships, the Florida Gators men's basketball
team won the 2006
and 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
s, and the Florida Gators football
team won 2007 BCS National Championship Game
in football, all in the space of 366 days. Florida is the only school in NCAA history to hold the men's basketball and football championships during the same school year. In January 2009, the Florida Gators football
team won the 2009 BCS National Championship Game
with a 24–14 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners
. In March 2010, the Gators won the NCAA men's indoor track and field and the NCAA women's swimming and diving team national championships. The men's indoor track and field team repeated as national champions in March 2011, while the women's tennis team won another national championship in May 2011, earning the university a total of twenty-six national team championships. Individual Gator athletes have won 220 individual NCAA championships in boxing, golf, gymnastics, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field. In 2011 the Florida Gators Men's athletic program won the inaugural Capital One Cup. The award was given based on the performances of all the teams in the program.
All Gators sports teams compete in NCAA Division I, and twenty of twenty-one Gators teams compete in the SEC. The University of Florida was one of the thirteen charter members who joined together to form the new Southeastern Conference on December 8 and 9, 1932. Previously, the university was a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
from 1912 to 1921, and the Southern Conference
from 1922 until the SEC began play in the fall of 1933.
The University of Florida sports teams adopted orange and blue as their official colors in 1910, purportedly representing a combination of the main colors of the two primary institutions that merged to form the university in 1905. The alligator
, or "gator," was incidentally chosen as Florida's mascot
when a Gainesville merchant sold school pennants with an alligator emblem in 1911. Albert and Alberta
are the official costumed mascots of the Florida Gators. Albert and Alberta are unique among the SEC's mascots as the only male-and-female pair.
All Florida Gators sports teams have on-campus facilities, and most are located on Stadium Road, including Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
for football, the O'Connell Center for basketball, gymnastics, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, and volleyball, Alfred A. McKethan Stadium
for baseball, and James G. Pressly Stadium
for soccer and outdoor track and field. The Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
and the Florida Lacrosse Facility
are located on Hull Road on the southwestern side of the campus. The Mark Bostick Golf Course and Scott Linder Stadium
for tennis are located on S.W. Second Avenue on the northwestern side of the campus.
The Florida Gators athletic program is administered by the University Athletic Association, Inc.
(UAA), a private non-profit corporation that reports to the president of the university and its board of trustees. For the 2009–2010 school year, the UAA has an operating budget of $85,832,812, projected revenues of $90,744,037, and will make a $6 million contribution to the university's general fund.
Jeremy Foley
is Florida's athletic director, having served in his present position since 1992. Foley guided the searches that resulted in the hiring of national-championship coaches Becky Burleigh
(women's soccer), Billy Donovan
(men's basketball), Mike Holloway
(track and field), Urban Meyer
(football), and Roland Thornqvist
(women's tennis). He was also fortunate to inherit national-championship men's golf coach Buddy Alexander
and SEC-dominant volleyball coach Mary Wise
, the only two current Florida coaches who predate Foley's tenure as athletic director. He has guided the successful expansion of Florida's varsity sports program over the past two decades, with the addition of women's soccer in 1995, softball in 1997, and women's lacrosse in 2010. The University of Florida currently fields teams in nine men's sports and twelve women's sports, including:
The Gators men's and women's track and field teams are counted twice in the total number of Florida's sports teams because Gators track and field athletes compete in the separate indoor and outdoor track and field seasons sanctioned by the NCAA.
Coach Andy Lopez
took over the Gators baseball program in 1994, one season after leading the Pepperdine Waves to their first College World Series
championship. In 1996, he coached the Gators to a fifty-win season and a College World Series bid. By 2000, the program had seemingly hit a plateau and Lopez was replaced.
Pat McMahon became the Gators' head coach in 2001 after coaching the Mississippi State Bulldogs
. The Gators' 2005 baseball season was the most successful to date, with the team winning the SEC title, and earning a place in the College World Series
for the fifth time in school history. The team advanced to the championship round against the Texas Longhorns
, ultimately losing two games to none.
Following their 2005 College World Series run, the Gators opened the 2006 season ranked number one in the polls, but struggled to finish 28–28 record (10–20 SEC), and failed to qualify for the NCAA Regionals. After missing the NCAA Regionals again in 2007, McMahon was dismissed.
Former Clemson Tigers
associate head coach Kevin O'Sullivan became the Gators' new head baseball coach on June 13, 2007. O'Sullivan's Gator teams showed immediate improvement and the Gators finished the 2008 regular season with a 30–24 record (17–13 SEC), and received an invitation to the NCAA Regional in Tallahassee. The 2009 squad finished the regular season with a 38–18 record (19–11 SEC), won the NCAA Regional in Gainesville, and advanced to the Super Regional before losing to the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.
O'Sullivan's 2010 and 2011 Gators finished their SEC regular season play with identical 22–8 records, won the program's eleventh and twelfth SEC championships, earned a berth in the College World Series in both years, and advanced to the Series final in 2011.
The Gators baseball team plays its home games at Alfred A. McKethan Stadium
at Perry Field.
Florida had limited success in men's basketball before the late 1980s. Under the tenure of Coach Norm Sloan
, Vernon Maxwell
led the team to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen in 1987, and Sloan coached the team to the tournament again the following two years. After a scandal involving alleged NCAA rules violations, Sloan resigned and the program was placed on NCAA probation.
Coach Lon Kruger
brought renewed success and reached the NIT
final four in his second year. During the 1993–1994 season, Andrew DeClercq
and Dametri Hill led the Gators to their first NCAA Final Four following a dramatic victory over Connecticut
in the Regional Final. Two years later, Kruger's final season ended in a losing record, and he left to coach at Illinois
.
Athletic Director Jeremy Foley
, looking for a young coach with a proven track record, hired Billy Donovan
, then the head coach at Marshall University
, as Kruger's replacement. Donovan's recruiting prowess was evident early, bringing future NBA star Jason Williams with him from Marshall and having early recruiting classes with future NBA players Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem
and Matt Bonner
. The Gators received invitations to the NCAA Tournament every year from 1999 through 2007, an eight-year streak that is a school record.
Despite several regular-season titles under Donovan, Florida had never won the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
until the 2004–2005 season, when they beat the rival Kentucky Wildcats
in the SEC title game.
The 2005–2006 team's 17–0 start was the best in school history, surprising many with a young, selfless squad led by four sophomores. The team started the season unranked, but managed to win its second consecutive SEC Tournament championship. On April 3, 2006, the Gators defeated the UCLA Bruins
73–57 in the NCAA Tournament championship game to win the school's first men's national basketball championship. All five starters announced they would return for another season to try to win back-to-back championships.
Before the start of the 2006–2007 basketball season, the Gators were ranked first in both major preseason media polls for the first time in school history. The Gators won their second consecutive NCAA National Men's Basketball Championship on April 2, 2007, defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes
84–75. They became the first team since the 1991–1992 Duke Blue Devils to win back-to-back tournaments and the first in history to do so with the same starting line-up. After the 2007 National Championship game, Florida's four star juniors announced they would enter the NBA draft
.
After accepting the head coaching job with the NBA's Orlando Magic
on June 1, 2007, Donovan asked to be released by the Magic and return to Florida. On June 6, 2007, the Orlando Magic released Donovan, and he signed a new contract with Florida on June 7, 2007 to become the highest-paid coach in college basketball.
Donovan's Gators returned to championship form in 2010–2011, winning the program's fifth regular season SEC championship and fighting their way to the NCAA regional semifinals (the "Elite Eight") before losing 74–71 to the Butler Bulldogs in overtime.
The Gators men's basketball team plays its home games in the O'Connell Center.
While traditionally being overshadowed by conference and national basketball powers Tennessee and Georgia, the Lady Gators have made several NCAA Tournament
appearances and sent players to the WNBA, including DeLisha Milton-Jones
. The winningest women's basketball coach in Florida's history is Carol Ross, who guided the team for twelve seasons from 1991 to 2003, but left to accept the head coaching job at her alma mater, Ole Miss
.
From 2002 through 2006, the women's basketball team was coached by Carolyn Peck
, a former WNBA coach who won a national title with Purdue
. Peck was fired midway through the 2006 season (though allowed to finish the season) after enduring the worst losing streak of any Gator sport.
Former Gator player and previous Charlotte
coach Amanda Butler
was named the new women's basketball coach on April 13, 2007. During the 2008–2009 season, the Lady Gators received an NCAA tournament bid, and won a first-round game before being defeated by eventual tournament champion Connecticut
in the second round.
The Gators women's basketball team plays its home games in the O'Connell Center.
Coach Mike Holloway
is the head coach of the men's and women's cross country teams.
Championships, and produced 138 All-Americans, forty-two National Football League
(NFL) first-round draft choices and three Heisman Trophy
winners.
The Gators' most prominent current football rivals are SEC Eastern Division foes Georgia
and Tennessee
, annual SEC Western Division opponent LSU
, and in-state rival Florida State
from the Atlantic Coast Conference
(ACC). Florida has historically shared rivalries with Auburn
and Miami
, too, but those games are no longer played annually and have lessened in intensity.
The Gator football team has been the winningest program in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) since 1990, the year Heisman Trophy
-winning quarterback Steve Spurrier
returned to his alma mater as head coach. The 1996 team, coached by Spurrier and led by another Gator Heisman-winner, Danny Wuerffel
, finished with a 12–1 record and won the national championship in the Sugar Bowl
.
Urban Meyer
became Florida's head football coach in December 2004, and his six teams had great success from 2005 to 2010. The 2006 team
won the school's second National Championship on January 8, 2007, defeating the number one-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes
41–14. Quarterback Tim Tebow
won the Heisman Trophy in 2007, and Florida's Tebow-led 2008 team won the 2009 BCS National Championship Game
on January 8, 2009, beating the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners
24–14, for the Gators' third National Championship. Meyer resigned as the Gators head coach in December 2010, and was replaced by Will Muschamp
following the Gators' January 1, 2011 victory over Penn State in the Outback Bowl
.
The Gators have won the SEC Championship Game
a record seven times in ten tries since the SEC instituted the championship game in 1992. The Gators won their first official conference title in 1991, the year before the first SEC conference championship game was played, for a total of eight SEC championships in the last twenty-one seasons.
The Gators football team plays its home games in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, the team's home field since 1930.
The men's golf team has won four NCAA Championships
(1968, 1973, 1993, 2001), and has produced two individual NCAA champions, Bob Murphy
in 1966 and Nick Gilliam
in 2001. The men's golf team has also won fifteen Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships.
Numerous former Gator golfers have represented the University of Florida on the PGA Tour
, and the program has produced over thirty male athletes who have competed professionally.
Buddy Alexander
is the head coach for the men's golf team. Alexander is the dean of Florida Gators coaches, having served in his current head coaching position since 1988—longer than any other Gator coach. The Gators men's golf team plays its home matches at the Mark Bostick Golf Course (formerly known as the "University Golf Course").
. The women's golf team has also won eight Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships.
Former Lady Gator golfers have regularly represented the University of Florida on the LPGA Tour, and the program has produced over twenty female athletes who have competed in the professional ranks.
Jan Dowling
is the head coach for the women's team. The Gators women's golf team plays its home matches at the Mark Bostick Golf Course (formerly known as the "University Golf Course").
The Gators have won a total of seven SEC gymnastics championships since 1982. The team's biggest SEC rivals are Alabama
and Georgia
, both of which are also perennial national contenders.
Rhonda Faehn
has coached the Gators gymnastics team since 2003. Under Faehn, the Gator gymnasts have been nationally competitive and remarkably consistent—finishing seventh, fifth, seventh, fourth, third, fourth and fourth at the NCAA National Championships over the past eight seasons. Faehn's Gator gymnasts won their most recent SEC championship in 2010.
The Gators gymnastics team holds its home meets at the O'Connell Center.
program, citing the phenomenal growth of high school lacrosse
across the country and the increased availability of Division I competition. Florida became the second Southeastern Conference school to offer lacrosse as a varsity sport, following Vanderbilt University
, and played its inaugural 2010 season in the American Lacrosse Conference
(ALC) together with Vanderbilt.
Amanda O'Leary
is the Gators' inaugural head coach. Before she was named to jump-start Florida's new program, O'Leary was head coach at Yale University
for 14 seasons, and was honored as a two-time All-American midfielder at Temple University
, where she led her team to an NCAA Championship in 1988. Assistant coach Erica LaGrow was a midfielder for the University of North Carolina
, and was a key player on the U.S. national team that defeated Australia in the gold medal game of the 2009 Federation of International Lacrosse
(FIL) Women's World Cup.
The Gators' first recruiting class of twenty-four freshmen featured seven US Lacrosse high school All-Americans and six Under Armour high school All-Americans. In only the second season of the Gators lacrosse program, the mostly-sophomores team defeated the defending ALC champion Northwestern Wildcats
to win their first regular season conference championship. The Gators completed a perfect 5–0 season three days later by defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores
in Nasvhille.
The Gators women's lacrosse team plays its home games in the new 1,500-seat Donald R. Dizney Stadium
.
Becky Burleigh
has been the head coach since the women's soccer team first began play a varsity sport in 1995. Under Burleigh's leadership, the team quickly became a national contender. In 1998, in the program's fourth season, the Gators won the NCAA national championship by defeating the defending national champion University of North Carolina
Tar Heels. The women's soccer team has also won eleven SEC Championships and nine SEC tournament titles in its sixteen seasons of play.
Other notable former Gator soccer players include Abby Wambach
, who is a member of the U.S. women's national team
and scored the game-winning goal in the final game of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece; Heather Mitts
, who played for the gold medal U.S. national team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China; Melanie Booth
, who currently plays for the Canadian women's national soccer team, and Danielle Fotopoulos
, who played professionally with the Carolina Courage
.
The Gators women's soccer team plays its home games at James G. Pressly Stadium
.
The University Athletic Association decided to create the women's varsity softball program in 1995, and the Florida Gators softball team officially started competing in the Southeastern Conference in 1997 under former head coach Larry Ray. Since the beginning of the program, the Florida Gators have had several notable successes, including two SEC championships and four consecutive appearances in the Women's College World Series
in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
The Gators won the SEC regular season championships in 1998, 2008 and 2009, as well as the SEC tournament titles in 2008 and 2009. During the 2009 season, they also played for the NCAA softball championship on the biggest stage in all of college softball, the Women's College World Series, losing to the University of Washington Huskies in the final game.
The current head coach is Tim Walton
, who is in his fourth year with the team. He was previously the head coach at Wichita State University
and he played baseball for the University of Oklahoma
and a minor league team affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies
. Through the conclusion of the 2009 season, Walton has coached his Gators team to a record of 226–57 in four seasons, and he has an overall win-loss record of 349–121 during his seven seasons as a head coach.
The Gators softball team plays its home games at the Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
.
The Florida Gators men's swimming
and diving
teams have won two NCAA national championships (1983 and 1984), and has also won thirty-three Southeastern Conference Championships. The women's swimming and diving team has won three NCAA national championships (1979, 1982, and 2010), and has also won seventeen SEC Championships.
The Florida Gators' famous female swimmers include three-time Olympic gold medalist Tracy Caulkins
, three-time Olympic gold medalist Nicole Haislett
, and four-time Olympic gold medalist Dara Torres
, who is also the first United States swimmer to compete in five Olympic Games
. Some of the Gators' most notable male swimmers are Ryan Lochte
, Matt Cetlinski
, Michael Heath
, David Larson
, Anthony Nesty
, Darian Townsend
, and Martin Zubero
.
The head coach of the men's and the women's swimming
teams is Gregg Troy
; Donnie Crane is the head coach of the men's and women's diving
teams.
The Gators swimming and diving teams hold their home meets at the Natatorium and the Carse Swimming Complex.
Florida has one of the strongest and most storied women's tennis
programs in NCAA history, producing such former greats as Lisa Raymond
and Jill Craybas
. Only the Stanford University
women's tennis team has won more NCAA Championships than the Gators. The women's tennis team has won five NCAA championships (1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2011) and six Intercollegiate Tennis Association
(ITA) national indoor championships (1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1999), and twenty-five SEC Championships.
The men's tennis team has won nine SEC Championships, and two singles and one doubles championships in the annual NCAA tournament.
Andy Jackson is the head coach of the men's tennis team, and coach Roland Thornqvist
leads the women's tennis team.
The Gators men's and women's tennis
teams play their home matches at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
.
The Florida Gators men's track and field
team has won six Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships, and four SEC Outdoor Championships. After being the runner-up in both in both the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets in 2009, the men's team won both the 2010 and 2011 NCAA men's indoor track and field championships.
The women's track and field team won the NCAA Indoor Championship in 1992. In addition, the women's team has won six SEC Indoor Championships, and four SEC Outdoor Championships.
The head coach for the track and field program is Mike Holloway
, and he is responsible for both the men's and women's teams. The assistant coaches are Steve Lemke, Todd Morgan and Brian O'Neal.
The Gators men's and women's track and field teams hold their outdoor home meets at Percy Beard Track
, which is part of James G. Pressly Stadium.
assumed control of Florida's program in 1991. During her twenty seasons as Florida's head coach, Wise has compiled a 632–69 win-loss record (.902), and her Gators teams have won nineteen SEC
regular season titles and twelve SEC Tournament titles in her twenty seasons. The Gators have made nineteen trips to the NCAA Tournament, including seven NCAA Final Four appearances (1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003). In 2003, they advanced to the NCAA National Championship
final, where they lost to the undefeated Southern California Trojans.
Florida landed the nation's top 2008 recruiting class, as ranked by Prepvolleyball.com and Volleyball Magazine, and signed the nation's top recruit and Gatorade National Player of the Year, Kelly Murphy, as well as four other recruits ranked among the top fifty. Murphy garnered First-Team All SEC and a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team with fellow Gators Colleen Ward and Kristy Jaeckel. Murphy would also gain the SEC Freshman of the Year, AVCA All-South Region Freshman of the Year, the AVCA National Freshman of the Year, and Volleyball Magazines Freshman of the Year. She was also honored as an AVCA Third-Team All-American and a Volleyball Magazine Second-Team All-American.
The Gators volleyball team plays its home matches in the O'Connell Center.
, and was never revived after the war. The Gators men's wrestling and men's volleyball teams were eliminated as a direct result of Title IX
compliance issues. The University Athletic Association, under athletic director Ray Graves
, desired to take a proactive role in Title IX compliance by balancing the number of available men's and women's athletic scholarships, and this unfortunately resulted in the elimination of two men's varsity sports programs.
. Hundreds of University of Florida alumni have competed or coached in the Olympic Games. In total, over 150 Gator athletes from over thirty different countries have competed in the Games, winning forty-four Olympic gold medals, twenty-three silver medals and twenty-three bronze medals (through the end of the 2008 Summer Olympics
).
The list of notable Gator Olympians and gold medalists includes sprinters Kerron Clement
, Dennis Mitchell
, and Bernard Williams
; marathon runner Frank Shorter
; baseball outfielder Brad Wilkerson
; basketball forward DeLisha Milton-Jones
; soccer forward Abby Wambach
; and swimmers Tracy Caulkins
, Nicole Haislett
and Ryan Lochte
.
Former Gator Dara Torres
became the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2008). At the age of forty-one, Torres competed in the 2008 Olympic Games in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won the silver medal in all three events. Torres has won a total of twelve Olympic medals (including four gold) over her career.
A short video showing alligators moving in on their prey, with the theme music from the movie Jaws
playing in the background, is displayed on Florida Field's jumbotron
video screen during every football game before the players come out of the tunnel. ESPN's College Gameday analyst Lee Corso
called it one of the most thrilling moments in college football
. Gator athletes and fans will perform the Gator Chomp
at athletic events to symbolize the Gators' swallowing of their opponents.
"Orange and blue" is a fan cheer that is popular at home sports events, with alternate stadium sections yelling "Orange!", and answering back with their loudest "Blue!" This can go back and forth for several minutes, with both sections competing to be the louder.
The football team had a long-time tradition of having George Edmondson Jr.—better known as "Mr. Two Bits"—wandering through the stands with a sign and a whistle to pump up the crowd to the "Two Bits" cheer. Edmondson officially retired in 1998, and was made an honorary alumnus in 2005. His final appearance as Mr. Two Bits was at the last home game of the 2008 season against The Citadel.
The University of Florida's marching band is known as "The Pride of the Sunshine
," and plays at every home football game, and also performs at various events such as Gator Growl
and parades. The Gatorettes
are the baton-twirlers, or majorettes, for the marching band.
Another football fan tradition, at home and on the road, is the Gator fans' linking arms, swaying, and singing "We Are the Boys from Old Florida" at the end of every third quarter. The University of Florida's fight song, "The Orange and Blue," is played frequently at all Florida Gators athletic events.
The Pride of the Sunshine plays the University of Florida Alma Mater at Florida Field before the start of every home football game. Following every home game, the entire football team gathers on Florida Field and joins fans in singing the Alma Mater while the band plays. Florida alumnus and former head football coach Steve Spurrier
re-introduced this tradition to Florida Gators football games in 1990.
The University of Florida dance team that performs at home basketball games and other sports events is known as the Dazzlers
.
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
(NACDA) has recognized the University of Florida as being among the top ten NCAA Division I athletic programs in the country every year since 1983–1984, and marked the Gators' twenty-eighth consecutive year among the nation's top ten best overall collegiate athletic programs. No other Division I athletic program has matched that feat, and Florida has achieved this record while fielding fewer sports teams than many of the other perennial top collegiate athletic programs. In the initial twenty-eight years of the NACDA Directors' Cup, the Gators have finished fifth or better in nineteen years, and have never finished lower than ninth, a claim only Stanford can better.
Following the 2010–2011 school year, Florida finished in fourth place in the NACDA Directors' Cup standings. Fifteen of twenty-one eligible Florida Gators athletic teams finished their 2010–2011 seasons ranked among the top twenty-five Division I teams in their respective sports, including:
(SEC) team championships, the most in conference history.
The SEC All-Sports Trophy began in 1973 as the Bernie Moore Trophy and tabulated the league's best men's sports program. In 1983, the SEC also began recognizing the best women's sports program in the conference, as well as the best overall SEC sports program. In 1994, the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group assumed responsibility for awarding the trophies. In the 37-year history of the awards, Florida has won eighteen Women's Trophies, fifteen Men's Trophies, and twenty-one Overall SEC All-Sports Trophies (including twenty-one of the last twenty-four).
SEC rival Georgia won the overall 2005–2006 All-Sports Trophy to snap Florida's record streak at fourteen straight (1990–1991 through 2004–2005). Florida reclaimed the SEC All-Sports Trophy for the 2006–2007 school year, and the Gators again swept the overall, men's and women's all-sports trophies in every year since. The Gators are the only SEC sports program to earn all three SEC all-sports trophies in a single year, and have swept all three trophies eleven times.
In their 105-year history of intercollegiate competition, the University of Florida's varsity athletic teams have won twenty-six national team championships (including nineteen NCAA championships), and its individual athletes have won 221 individual NCAA national championships. Florida is the only Division I school to hold both major men's championships at the same time (as the 2006 BCS Football Champions and the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Champions). The Gators men's basketball team's back-to-back NCAA national championships in 2006 and 2007 made the Gators the first "repeat champions" in men's basketball since the Duke University Blue Devils won back-to-back NCAA tournament championships in 1991 and 1992.
Men's National Championships
Women's National Championships
The national intercollegiate sports championships listed above were sponsored by the NCAA unless otherwise noted in the footnotes.
has won the next highest number of SEC team championships, with 150. The women's lacrosse team plays in the single-sport American Lacrosse Conference
(ALC), and won its first regular season ALC championship in 2011. Through the spring term of the 2010–2011 school year, Florida's 202 SEC and ALC team championships include:
Men's conference championships
Women's conference championships
For purposes of counting "official" SEC team championships in baseball, men's and women's basketball, soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, and volleyball, the SEC currently only includes regular season team championships, not tournament championships. The Gators have won an additional forty-four SEC tournament titles in these sports which are not included in Florida's total of 201 SEC team championships.
Alfred A. McKethan Stadium at Perry Field
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field
Carse Swimming Complex
Florida Basketball Practice Complex
Florida Lacrosse Facility
James G. Pressly Stadium and Percy Beard Track
Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
Lemerand Center
Mark Bostick Golf Course and Guy Bostick Clubhouse
Steinbrenner Band Hall
Scott Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Stephen C. O'Connell Center
Gator Greats include Heisman Trophy winners Steve Spurrier
and Danny Wuerffel
; consensus first-team All-Americans Carlos Alvarez
, Wilber Marshall
and Emmitt Smith
; Olympic gold medal swimmers Tracy Caulkins
, Nicole Haislett
and Dara Torres
; individual NCAA golf champions Page Dunlap
, Nick Gilliam
and Bob Murphy
; Olympic gold medal soccer players Heather Mitts
and Abby Wambach
; and individual NCAA tennis champions Jill Craybas
, Jeff Morrison
and Lisa Raymond
.
Distinguished Letterwinners include head coaches Doug Dickey
, Lindy Infante
and Dutch Stanley
, as well as U.S. Senator George Smathers
.
Honorary Letterwinners include former Gators national championship coaches Buster Bishop
, Andy Brandi
, Randy Reese
and Mimi Ryan
, former football coach and four-star general James Van Fleet
, as well as medical professor Robert Cade
, who invented the sports drink Gatorade
as a rehydration aid to assist Gators athletes.
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
located in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as the "Gator Nation."
Overview of Gators sports program
The Florida Gators athletic program has been recognized as the best overall in the Southeastern ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC) over the past two decades, and consistently as one of the best in the nation. During the 2010–2011 school year, the Gators men's and women's teams combined to win the Southeastern Conference All-Sports Trophy for the twenty-first time in the past twenty-four years. Every year since 1983, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics is a professional organization for college and university athletic directors in the United States. NACDA boasts a membership of more than 6,100 individuals and more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico...
(NACDA) has recognized the Gators athletic program as one of the ten best overall Division I athletic programs in the country in its annual NACDA Directors' Cup standings.
Among the Gators' recent national championships, the Florida Gators men's basketball
Florida Gators men's basketball
The Florida Gators men's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Southeastern Conference...
team won the 2006
2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2005–06 basketball season...
and 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 NCAA schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2006–07 basketball season...
s, and the Florida Gators football
Florida Gators football
The Florida Gators football team represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference...
team won 2007 BCS National Championship Game
2007 BCS National Championship Game
The 2007 BCS National Championship Game, sponsored by Tostitos, was an American football game played at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on January 8, 2007. The BCS No. 2 Florida Gators defeated the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes, 41–14. The Buckeyes secured a spot by finishing...
in football, all in the space of 366 days. Florida is the only school in NCAA history to hold the men's basketball and football championships during the same school year. In January 2009, the Florida Gators football
Florida Gators football
The Florida Gators football team represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference...
team won the 2009 BCS National Championship Game
2009 BCS National Championship Game
The 2009 BCS National Championship Game, sponsored by FedEx, was an American football game played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on January 8, 2009. It was the national championship game for the 2008 college football season, and featured the second-ranked Florida Gators against the...
with a 24–14 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma Sooners football
The Oklahoma Sooners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Oklahoma . The team is currently a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...
. In March 2010, the Gators won the NCAA men's indoor track and field and the NCAA women's swimming and diving team national championships. The men's indoor track and field team repeated as national champions in March 2011, while the women's tennis team won another national championship in May 2011, earning the university a total of twenty-six national team championships. Individual Gator athletes have won 220 individual NCAA championships in boxing, golf, gymnastics, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field. In 2011 the Florida Gators Men's athletic program won the inaugural Capital One Cup. The award was given based on the performances of all the teams in the program.
All Gators sports teams compete in NCAA Division I, and twenty of twenty-one Gators teams compete in the SEC. The University of Florida was one of the thirteen charter members who joined together to form the new Southeastern Conference on December 8 and 9, 1932. Previously, the university was a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS football programs were members of this conference at some point, as were at least 19 other schools...
from 1912 to 1921, and the Southern Conference
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference is a Division I college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision . Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North...
from 1922 until the SEC began play in the fall of 1933.
The University of Florida sports teams adopted orange and blue as their official colors in 1910, purportedly representing a combination of the main colors of the two primary institutions that merged to form the university in 1905. The alligator
American Alligator
The American alligator , sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator, is a reptile endemic only to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two living species of alligator, in the genus Alligator, within the family Alligatoridae...
, or "gator," was incidentally chosen as Florida's mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
when a Gainesville merchant sold school pennants with an alligator emblem in 1911. Albert and Alberta
Albert and Alberta
Albert E. Gator and Alberta Gator are the official mascots of the University of Florida. Costumed in plush, they are anthropomorphic representations of American alligators.- History :...
are the official costumed mascots of the Florida Gators. Albert and Alberta are unique among the SEC's mascots as the only male-and-female pair.
All Florida Gators sports teams have on-campus facilities, and most are located on Stadium Road, including Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field is the football stadium for the University of Florida and the home field of the university's Florida Gators football team. It is located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. The stadium was originally built in 1930, and has been regularly...
for football, the O'Connell Center for basketball, gymnastics, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, and volleyball, Alfred A. McKethan Stadium
Alfred A. McKethan Stadium
Alfred A. McKethan Stadium at Perry Field is the college baseball stadium of the University of Florida, and serves as the home field for the Florida Gators baseball team. McKethan Stadium is located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus, in close proximity to the university's indoor...
for baseball, and James G. Pressly Stadium
James G. Pressly Stadium
The James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track is a 4,500-seat dual-purpose stadium located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The stadium is home to the Florida Gators women's soccer team and the men's and women's Florida Gators track and field teams. The facility...
for soccer and outdoor track and field. The Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
The Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium is the home field for the Florida Gators softball team: it is on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.-History:...
and the Florida Lacrosse Facility
Florida Gators women's lacrosse
The Florida Gators women's lacrosse team represents the University of Florida in the sport of college lacrosse. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the American Lacrosse Conference . They play their home games in Donald R...
are located on Hull Road on the southwestern side of the campus. The Mark Bostick Golf Course and Scott Linder Stadium
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex is the intercollegiate tennis facility at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It is home stadium and training facility for the Florida Gators women's tennis and the Florida Gators men's tennis teams.- Stadium :Linder Stadium is a 1,000-seat...
for tennis are located on S.W. Second Avenue on the northwestern side of the campus.
The Florida Gators athletic program is administered by the University Athletic Association, Inc.
University of Florida Athletic Association
The University Athletic Association, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that is responsible for maintaining the Florida Gators intercollegiate sports program of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida...
(UAA), a private non-profit corporation that reports to the president of the university and its board of trustees. For the 2009–2010 school year, the UAA has an operating budget of $85,832,812, projected revenues of $90,744,037, and will make a $6 million contribution to the university's general fund.
Jeremy Foley
Jeremy N. Foley is an American university sports administrator and former college athlete. Foley is currently the athletic director for the Florida Gators Division I sports program of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida...
is Florida's athletic director, having served in his present position since 1992. Foley guided the searches that resulted in the hiring of national-championship coaches Becky Burleigh
Becky Burleigh
Rebecca Lund "Becky" Burleigh is an American college soccer coach and former college soccer player. She is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's soccer team of the University of Florida...
(women's soccer), Billy Donovan
Billy Donovan
William John "Billy" Donovan, Jr. is an American college basketball coach and a former college and professional basketball player. Donovan is the current head coach of the Florida Gators men's basketball team of the University of Florida...
(men's basketball), Mike Holloway
Mike Holloway
Mike Holloway is an American college track and field coach. Holloway is the current head coach of the Florida Gators track and field and Gators cross country programs of the University of Florida...
(track and field), Urban Meyer
Urban Meyer
Urban Frank Meyer, III is an American football coach and former player. He is head football coach at Ohio State University, having been hired for the position in November 2011...
(football), and Roland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist is a Swedish-born American college tennis coach and former college tennis player. Thornqvist is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team of the University of Florida...
(women's tennis). He was also fortunate to inherit national-championship men's golf coach Buddy Alexander
Buddy Alexander
Stewart Murray "Buddy" Alexander is an American college golf coach and former amateur golfer. Alexander is the current head coach of the Florida Gators men's golf team of the University of Florida...
and SEC-dominant volleyball coach Mary Wise
Mary Wise
Mary Wise is an American college volleyball coach, former player and author. Wise is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's volleyball team of the University of Florida...
, the only two current Florida coaches who predate Foley's tenure as athletic director. He has guided the successful expansion of Florida's varsity sports program over the past two decades, with the addition of women's soccer in 1995, softball in 1997, and women's lacrosse in 2010. The University of Florida currently fields teams in nine men's sports and twelve women's sports, including:
Women's sports
- Gators women's basketball
Florida Gators women's basketballThe Florida Gators women's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Southeastern Conference...- Gators women's cross country
Florida Gators cross countryThe Florida Gators cross country program represents the University of Florida in the sport of cross country running. The program includes separate men's and women's cross country teams, both of which compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Southeastern Conference...- Gators women's golf
Florida Gators women's golfThe Florida Gators women's golf team represents the University of Florida in the sport of golf. The Lady Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Southeastern Conference . They play their home matches on the Mark Bostick Golf Course on the university's...- Gators gymnastics
- Gators women's lacrosse
Florida Gators women's lacrosseThe Florida Gators women's lacrosse team represents the University of Florida in the sport of college lacrosse. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the American Lacrosse Conference . They play their home games in Donald R...- Gators women's soccer
- Gators softball
Florida Gators softballThe Florida Gators softball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of softball. The Florida Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference...- Gators women's swimming and diving
- Gators women's tennis
Florida Gators women's tennisThe Florida Gators women's tennis team represents the University of Florida in the sport of tennis. The Lady Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference . They play their home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's...- Gators women's track and field
- Gators volleyball
Men's sports
- Gators baseball
Florida Gators baseballThe Florida Gators baseball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of baseball. The Florida Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association , and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference . They play their home games in Alfred A...- Gators men's basketball
Florida Gators men's basketballThe Florida Gators men's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Southeastern Conference...- Gators men's cross country
Florida Gators cross countryThe Florida Gators cross country program represents the University of Florida in the sport of cross country running. The program includes separate men's and women's cross country teams, both of which compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Southeastern Conference...- Gators football
Florida Gators footballThe Florida Gators football team represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference...- Gators men's golf
- Gators men's swimming and diving
- Gators men's tennis
Florida Gators men's tennisThe Florida Gators men's tennis team represents the University of Florida in the sport of tennis. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference . The team hosts its home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's Gainesville,...- Gators men's track and field
The Gators men's and women's track and field teams are counted twice in the total number of Florida's sports teams because Gators track and field athletes compete in the separate indoor and outdoor track and field seasons sanctioned by the NCAA.
Baseball
Andy Lopez
Andy Lopez is an American college baseball coach. He is currently the head baseball coach at the University of Arizona, and he has previously served as the head baseball coach at California State University Dominguez Hills, Pepperdine University and the University of Florida...
took over the Gators baseball program in 1994, one season after leading the Pepperdine Waves to their first College World Series
College World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
championship. In 1996, he coached the Gators to a fifty-win season and a College World Series bid. By 2000, the program had seemingly hit a plateau and Lopez was replaced.
Pat McMahon became the Gators' head coach in 2001 after coaching the Mississippi State Bulldogs
Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball
The Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team represents Mississippi State University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in the West division of the Southeastern Conference. They are currently coached by head coach John Cohen. They play home games in Dudy Noble Field,...
. The Gators' 2005 baseball season was the most successful to date, with the team winning the SEC title, and earning a place in the College World Series
College World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
for the fifth time in school history. The team advanced to the championship round against the Texas Longhorns
Texas Longhorns baseball
The Texas Longhorns baseball team represents The University of Texas at Austin and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I.The Texas Longhorns are the winningest program in college baseball history in terms of win percentage with .740 and ranks second all-time in total wins to the...
, ultimately losing two games to none.
Following their 2005 College World Series run, the Gators opened the 2006 season ranked number one in the polls, but struggled to finish 28–28 record (10–20 SEC), and failed to qualify for the NCAA Regionals. After missing the NCAA Regionals again in 2007, McMahon was dismissed.
Former Clemson Tigers
Clemson Tigers baseball
The Clemson baseball team represents Clemson University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tigers are currently coached by head coach Jack Leggett and play their home games in Doug Kingsmore Stadium...
associate head coach Kevin O'Sullivan became the Gators' new head baseball coach on June 13, 2007. O'Sullivan's Gator teams showed immediate improvement and the Gators finished the 2008 regular season with a 30–24 record (17–13 SEC), and received an invitation to the NCAA Regional in Tallahassee. The 2009 squad finished the regular season with a 38–18 record (19–11 SEC), won the NCAA Regional in Gainesville, and advanced to the Super Regional before losing to the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.
O'Sullivan's 2010 and 2011 Gators finished their SEC regular season play with identical 22–8 records, won the program's eleventh and twelfth SEC championships, earned a berth in the College World Series in both years, and advanced to the Series final in 2011.
The Gators baseball team plays its home games at Alfred A. McKethan Stadium
Alfred A. McKethan Stadium
Alfred A. McKethan Stadium at Perry Field is the college baseball stadium of the University of Florida, and serves as the home field for the Florida Gators baseball team. McKethan Stadium is located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus, in close proximity to the university's indoor...
at Perry Field.
Men's basketball
Norm Sloan
Norman Sloan , nicknamed "Stormin' Norman," was an American college basketball player and coach. Sloan played college basketball for North Carolina State University, and thereafter, he was the men's basketball head coach for Presbyterian College, The Citadel, the University of Florida and North...
, Vernon Maxwell
Vernon Maxwell
Vernon Maxwell is a former American college and professional basketball player who was a shooting guard in the National Basketball Association for thirteen seasons from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Maxwell played college basketball for the University of Florida, and led the Florida Gators...
led the team to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen in 1987, and Sloan coached the team to the tournament again the following two years. After a scandal involving alleged NCAA rules violations, Sloan resigned and the program was placed on NCAA probation.
Coach Lon Kruger
Lon Kruger
Lon Kruger is an American college and professional basketball coach who is currently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for Kansas State University...
brought renewed success and reached the NIT
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
final four in his second year. During the 1993–1994 season, Andrew DeClercq
Andrew DeClercq
Andrew Donald DeClercq is a former American college and professional basketball player who was a center and power forward in the National Basketball Association for ten seasons in the 1990s and 2000s...
and Dametri Hill led the Gators to their first NCAA Final Four following a dramatic victory over Connecticut
Connecticut Huskies
The Connecticut Huskies, also known as the UConn Huskies, are the athletic teams of the University of Connecticut in the United States. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference for all sports except Men's Ice Hockey and Women's Ice...
in the Regional Final. Two years later, Kruger's final season ended in a losing record, and he left to coach at Illinois
Illinois Fighting Illini
The Fighting Illini are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports....
.
Athletic Director Jeremy Foley
Jeremy Foley
Jeremy N. Foley is an American university sports administrator and former college athlete. Foley is currently the athletic director for the Florida Gators Division I sports program of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida...
, looking for a young coach with a proven track record, hired Billy Donovan
Billy Donovan
William John "Billy" Donovan, Jr. is an American college basketball coach and a former college and professional basketball player. Donovan is the current head coach of the Florida Gators men's basketball team of the University of Florida...
, then the head coach at Marshall University
Marshall University
Marshall University is a coeducational public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States founded in 1837, and named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States....
, as Kruger's replacement. Donovan's recruiting prowess was evident early, bringing future NBA star Jason Williams with him from Marshall and having early recruiting classes with future NBA players Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem
Udonis Haslem
Udonis Johneal Haslem is an American professional basketball player who is currently a power forward for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association . Haslem played college basketball for the University of Florida, where he was a key member of four Florida Gators NCAA tournament teams...
and Matt Bonner
Matt Bonner
Matthew Robert "Matt" Bonner is an American professional basketball player who is currently a member of the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association . Bonner played college basketball for the University of Florida, and was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the...
. The Gators received invitations to the NCAA Tournament every year from 1999 through 2007, an eight-year streak that is a school record.
Despite several regular-season titles under Donovan, Florida had never won the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament is the conference tournament in basketball for the Southeastern Conference . It is a single-elimination tournament that involves all league schools . Its seeding is based on regular season records...
until the 2004–2005 season, when they beat the rival Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, representing the University of Kentucky, is the winningest in the history of college basketball, both in all-time wins and all-time winning percentage. Kentucky's all-time record currently stands at 2058–647...
in the SEC title game.
The 2005–2006 team's 17–0 start was the best in school history, surprising many with a young, selfless squad led by four sophomores. The team started the season unranked, but managed to win its second consecutive SEC Tournament championship. On April 3, 2006, the Gators defeated the UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins men's basketball
The UCLA Bruins men's basketball program, established in 1920, owns a record 11 Division I NCAA championships. UCLA teams coached by John Wooden won 10 national titles in 12 seasons from 1964 to 1975, including 7 straight from 1967 to 1973. UCLA went undefeated a record 4 times, in 1964, 1967,...
73–57 in the NCAA Tournament championship game to win the school's first men's national basketball championship. All five starters announced they would return for another season to try to win back-to-back championships.
Before the start of the 2006–2007 basketball season, the Gators were ranked first in both major preseason media polls for the first time in school history. The Gators won their second consecutive NCAA National Men's Basketball Championship on April 2, 2007, defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of The Ohio State University, named after the state tree, the Buckeye. The Buckeyes participate in the NCAA's Division I in all sports and the Big Ten Conference in most sports...
84–75. They became the first team since the 1991–1992 Duke Blue Devils to win back-to-back tournaments and the first in history to do so with the same starting line-up. After the 2007 National Championship game, Florida's four star juniors announced they would enter the NBA draft
NBA Draft
The NBA Draft is an annual event in which the thirty teams from the National Basketball Association can draft players who are eligible and wish to join the league. These players are usually amateur U.S. college basketball players, but international players are also eligible to be drafted...
.
After accepting the head coaching job with the NBA's Orlando Magic
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic is a professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association and are currently coached by Stan Van Gundy...
on June 1, 2007, Donovan asked to be released by the Magic and return to Florida. On June 6, 2007, the Orlando Magic released Donovan, and he signed a new contract with Florida on June 7, 2007 to become the highest-paid coach in college basketball.
Donovan's Gators returned to championship form in 2010–2011, winning the program's fifth regular season SEC championship and fighting their way to the NCAA regional semifinals (the "Elite Eight") before losing 74–71 to the Butler Bulldogs in overtime.
The Gators men's basketball team plays its home games in the O'Connell Center.
Women's basketball
Women's basketall was approved as a new women's varsity sport by Florida in March 1972, but began play in 1973 as a club team. In 1975, the Lady Gators debuted as a varsity program under head coach Dr. Paula Welch. The Gators made local headlines in 1976 by winning the "state championship," beating the other three women's college teams located in the state at that time.While traditionally being overshadowed by conference and national basketball powers Tennessee and Georgia, the Lady Gators have made several NCAA Tournament
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
appearances and sent players to the WNBA, including DeLisha Milton-Jones
DeLisha Milton-Jones
DeLisha Milton-Jones is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association . Milton-Jones played college basketball for the University of Florida. In her twelve-season WNBA career, she has played for the Washington Mystics and Los...
. The winningest women's basketball coach in Florida's history is Carol Ross, who guided the team for twelve seasons from 1991 to 2003, but left to accept the head coaching job at her alma mater, Ole Miss
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
.
From 2002 through 2006, the women's basketball team was coached by Carolyn Peck
Carolyn Peck
Carolyn Arlene Peck is an American television sportscaster and former college basketball coach. She was was the head coach for the women's basketball teams of Purdue University and the University of Florida, and also the first head coach-general manager in the history of the WNBA's Orlando Miracle...
, a former WNBA coach who won a national title with Purdue
Purdue Boilermakers
Boilermakers is the official nickname for the intercollegiate athletic teams of Purdue University. As is common with athletic nicknames, it is also used as colloquial designation of Purdue's students and alumni at large....
. Peck was fired midway through the 2006 season (though allowed to finish the season) after enduring the worst losing streak of any Gator sport.
Former Gator player and previous Charlotte
Charlotte 49ers
The Charlotte 49ers represent the NCAA Division I sports teams of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Charlotte joined the Atlantic 10 in 2005. The 49ers field 16 teams, 8 men and 8 women....
coach Amanda Butler
Amanda Butler
Amanda Butler is an American college basketball coach and former player. Butler is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's basketball team of the University of Florida.- Career :...
was named the new women's basketball coach on April 13, 2007. During the 2008–2009 season, the Lady Gators received an NCAA tournament bid, and won a first-round game before being defeated by eventual tournament champion Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
in the second round.
The Gators women's basketball team plays its home games in the O'Connell Center.
Cross country
The Florida Gators men's cross country team has won three Southeastern Conference Championships (SEC), and has competed in eight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournaments. The women's cross country team has also won five SEC Championships (including the most recent), and competed in ten NCAA tournaments. In 2009, the Lady Gators placed seventh at the NCAA cross country championship; in 2010, they won the SEC Championship for the second consecutive year.Coach Mike Holloway
Mike Holloway
Mike Holloway is an American college track and field coach. Holloway is the current head coach of the Florida Gators track and field and Gators cross country programs of the University of Florida...
is the head coach of the men's and women's cross country teams.
Football
The University of Florida fielded an official varsity football team for the first time in 1906, defeating the Gainesville Athletic Club 6–0 in its first game. Since then, the Gators have played in thirty-seven bowl games, won three National Championships (1996, 2006, 2008) and eight Southeastern ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
Championships, and produced 138 All-Americans, forty-two National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL) first-round draft choices and three Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
winners.
The Gators' most prominent current football rivals are SEC Eastern Division foes Georgia
Georgia Bulldogs
The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams of the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference...
and Tennessee
Tennessee Volunteers
The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the National Collegiate Athletic Association college sports teams at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mike Hamilton is the most recent Men's Athletic Director, but resigned on June 7, 2011, and Joan Cronan is the current Women's...
, annual SEC Western Division opponent LSU
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
, and in-state rival Florida State
Florida State Seminoles
The Florida State Seminoles are the men's and women's sports teams of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Florida State participates in the NCAA's Division I . FSU joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1991, and competes in the Atlantic Division in any sports split into a...
from the Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
(ACC). Florida has historically shared rivalries with Auburn
Auburn Tigers
Auburn Tigers is the name given to Auburn University athletic teams. The University is a member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 19 varsity teams in 13 sports:* Men's sports** Baseball** Basketball...
and Miami
Miami Hurricanes
The Miami Hurricanes, of Coral Gables, Florida, are the varsity sports teams of the University of Miami. They compete in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference . The university fields 15 athletic teams for 17 varsity sports...
, too, but those games are no longer played annually and have lessened in intensity.
The Gator football team has been the winningest program in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) since 1990, the year Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
-winning quarterback Steve Spurrier
Steve Spurrier
Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...
returned to his alma mater as head coach. The 1996 team, coached by Spurrier and led by another Gator Heisman-winner, Danny Wuerffel
Danny Wuerffel
Daniel Carl "Danny" Wuerffel is a former American college and professional football player who won the 1996 Heisman Trophy and the 1996 national football championship while playing college football for the University of Florida. After graduating from Florida, he played for four National Football...
, finished with a 12–1 record and won the national championship in the Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...
.
Urban Meyer
Urban Frank Meyer, III is an American football coach and former player. He is head football coach at Ohio State University, having been hired for the position in November 2011...
became Florida's head football coach in December 2004, and his six teams had great success from 2005 to 2010. The 2006 team
2006 Florida Gators football team
The 2006 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2006 college football season...
won the school's second National Championship on January 8, 2007, defeating the number one-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes
2006 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 2006 Ohio State Buckeyes football team was an American football team representing the Ohio State University in the college football season of 2006-2007. The team's head coach was Jim Tressel. The Buckeyes played their home games in Ohio Stadium...
41–14. Quarterback Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow
Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow is an American football player who is currently the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft...
won the Heisman Trophy in 2007, and Florida's Tebow-led 2008 team won the 2009 BCS National Championship Game
2009 BCS National Championship Game
The 2009 BCS National Championship Game, sponsored by FedEx, was an American football game played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on January 8, 2009. It was the national championship game for the 2008 college football season, and featured the second-ranked Florida Gators against the...
on January 8, 2009, beating the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma Sooners
The University of Oklahoma features 19 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's teams are called the Sooners, a nickname given to the early participants in the land rushes which initially opened the Oklahoma Indian Territory to non-native settlement. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A,...
24–14, for the Gators' third National Championship. Meyer resigned as the Gators head coach in December 2010, and was replaced by Will Muschamp
Will Muschamp
William Larry "Will" Muschamp is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida. He is a native of Georgia and attended the University of Georgia, where he played for the Georgia Bulldogs...
following the Gators' January 1, 2011 victory over Penn State in the Outback Bowl
Outback Bowl
The Outback Bowl is an annual New Year's Day college football bowl game played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The event was originally called the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1994 until being renamed in 1995 for its new title sponsor, Outback Steakhouse...
.
The Gators have won the SEC Championship Game
SEC Championship Game
The SEC Championship Game refers to the game determining the Southeastern Conference's football season champion. The championship game pits the SEC Western Division representative against the Eastern Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. Thus far, nine...
a record seven times in ten tries since the SEC instituted the championship game in 1992. The Gators won their first official conference title in 1991, the year before the first SEC conference championship game was played, for a total of eight SEC championships in the last twenty-one seasons.
The Gators football team plays its home games in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, the team's home field since 1930.
Men's golf
NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships
The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, played in late May or early June, is the top annual competition in U.S. men's collegiate golf. It is a stroke play team competition, starting in 2009 the competition changed to a stroke play/match play competition with the top 8 teams after 54 holes of...
(1968, 1973, 1993, 2001), and has produced two individual NCAA champions, Bob Murphy
Bob Murphy (golfer)
Robert Joseph Murphy, Jr. is an American professional golfer who was formerly a member of the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour. Murphy has won 21 tournaments as a professional.-Early years:...
in 1966 and Nick Gilliam
Nick Gilliam
Nick Gilliam is an American professional golfer. Gilliam is best known for winning the individual NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship in 2001.- Early years :Gilliam was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin...
in 2001. The men's golf team has also won fifteen Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships.
Numerous former Gator golfers have represented the University of Florida on the PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
, and the program has produced over thirty male athletes who have competed professionally.
Buddy Alexander
Buddy Alexander
Stewart Murray "Buddy" Alexander is an American college golf coach and former amateur golfer. Alexander is the current head coach of the Florida Gators men's golf team of the University of Florida...
is the head coach for the men's golf team. Alexander is the dean of Florida Gators coaches, having served in his current head coaching position since 1988—longer than any other Gator coach. The Gators men's golf team plays its home matches at the Mark Bostick Golf Course (formerly known as the "University Golf Course").
Women's golf
The women's golf team has won two NCAA team championships (1985, 1986), and has produced one individual NCAA champion, Page DunlapPage Dunlap
E. Page Dunlap-Halpin is a former American professional golfer who was a member of the LPGA Tour for six years during the 1990s. Dunlap is best known for winning the individual NCAA Division I Championship in 1986.- Early years :...
. The women's golf team has also won eight Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships.
Former Lady Gator golfers have regularly represented the University of Florida on the LPGA Tour, and the program has produced over twenty female athletes who have competed in the professional ranks.
Jan Dowling
Jan Dowling
Jan Dowling is a Canadian-born American college golf coach and former amateur golfer. Dowling is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's golf team of the University of Florida.- Early life and education :...
is the head coach for the women's team. The Gators women's golf team plays its home matches at the Mark Bostick Golf Course (formerly known as the "University Golf Course").
Women's gymnastics
Gymnastics was one of the first women's sports added at the University of Florida and achieved early success by winning the 1982 AIAW National Championship. Since the NCAA assumed sponsorship of the national gymnastics championships in 1982, Florida has earned invitations to the NCAA National Championships (top twelve teams nationally) fifteen times, and advanced to the NCAA "Super Six" ten times. Florida's highest finish in NCAA competition was a second-place national finish in 1998, and the team has only failed to qualify for the NCAA championships once in the past twenty-eight seasons.The Gators have won a total of seven SEC gymnastics championships since 1982. The team's biggest SEC rivals are Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
and Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
, both of which are also perennial national contenders.
Rhonda Faehn
Rhonda Faehn
Rhonda Faehn is an American college gymnastics coach and former college and elite gymnast. Faehn is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's gymnastics team of the University of Florida...
has coached the Gators gymnastics team since 2003. Under Faehn, the Gator gymnasts have been nationally competitive and remarkably consistent—finishing seventh, fifth, seventh, fourth, third, fourth and fourth at the NCAA National Championships over the past eight seasons. Faehn's Gator gymnasts won their most recent SEC championship in 2010.
The Gators gymnastics team holds its home meets at the O'Connell Center.
Women's lacrosse
In June 2006, the University Athletic Association announced the creation of the new Gators women's lacrosseWomen's lacrosse
Women's lacrosse, sometimes shortened to wlax or lax, is a sport played with twelve players on each team. Originally played by the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the first tribe to play it was the Hauser tribe, of the Great Plains. The modern women's game was introduced in 1890 at the St...
program, citing the phenomenal growth of high school lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
across the country and the increased availability of Division I competition. Florida became the second Southeastern Conference school to offer lacrosse as a varsity sport, following Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
, and played its inaugural 2010 season in the American Lacrosse Conference
American Lacrosse Conference
The American Lacrosse Conference is a NCAA Division I women's lacrosse-only college athletic conference whose members are located in the Midwest, on the East Coast, and increasingly in the Southeastern states from Illinois to Florida....
(ALC) together with Vanderbilt.
Amanda O'Leary
Amanda O'Leary
Amanda "Mandee" Moore O'Leary is an American college lacrosse coach and former player. O'Leary was an All-American lacrosse midfielder for the Temple Owls women's lacrosse team of Temple University, and she is a member of the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame...
is the Gators' inaugural head coach. Before she was named to jump-start Florida's new program, O'Leary was head coach at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
for 14 seasons, and was honored as a two-time All-American midfielder at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
, where she led her team to an NCAA Championship in 1988. Assistant coach Erica LaGrow was a midfielder for the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
, and was a key player on the U.S. national team that defeated Australia in the gold medal game of the 2009 Federation of International Lacrosse
Federation of International Lacrosse
The Federation of International Lacrosse, shortened to FIL, was established in August 2008 in a merger of both the men's and women's international lacrosse associations. It's located in Wilmington, Delaware in United States...
(FIL) Women's World Cup.
The Gators' first recruiting class of twenty-four freshmen featured seven US Lacrosse high school All-Americans and six Under Armour high school All-Americans. In only the second season of the Gators lacrosse program, the mostly-sophomores team defeated the defending ALC champion Northwestern Wildcats
Northwestern Wildcats women's lacrosse
The Northwestern Wildcats Women's Lacrosse Team is a NCAA Division I college lacrosse team representing Northwestern University as part of the American Lacrosse Conference. The team began competition at the varsity level in 1982, operated as a club sport from 1993 to 2001, and resumed play at the...
to win their first regular season conference championship. The Gators completed a perfect 5–0 season three days later by defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores
Vanderbilt Commodores
The Vanderbilt Commodores are the NCAA athletic teams of Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. The university fields 16 varsity teams , 14 of which compete in the Southeastern Conference...
in Nasvhille.
The Gators women's lacrosse team plays its home games in the new 1,500-seat Donald R. Dizney Stadium
Florida Gators women's lacrosse
The Florida Gators women's lacrosse team represents the University of Florida in the sport of college lacrosse. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the American Lacrosse Conference . They play their home games in Donald R...
.
Women's soccer
Becky Burleigh
Becky Burleigh
Rebecca Lund "Becky" Burleigh is an American college soccer coach and former college soccer player. She is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's soccer team of the University of Florida...
has been the head coach since the women's soccer team first began play a varsity sport in 1995. Under Burleigh's leadership, the team quickly became a national contender. In 1998, in the program's fourth season, the Gators won the NCAA national championship by defeating the defending national champion University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
Tar Heels. The women's soccer team has also won eleven SEC Championships and nine SEC tournament titles in its sixteen seasons of play.
Other notable former Gator soccer players include Abby Wambach
Abby Wambach
Mary Abigail "Abby" Wambach is an American professional soccer player, coach and Olympic gold medalist. A four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, she has been a regular on the U.S. women's national team since 2003...
, who is a member of the U.S. women's national team
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team represents the United States in international soccer competition and is controlled by U.S. Soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991, and has since been a superpower in women's soccer. It is currently ranked first in the world...
and scored the game-winning goal in the final game of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece; Heather Mitts
Heather Mitts
Heather Blaine Mitts Feeley is an American professional soccer player who is a defender in the Women's Professional Soccer league. Mitts played college soccer for the University of Florida, and thereafter, she has played professionally for the Philadelphia Charge, Boston Breakers, Philadelphia...
, who played for the gold medal U.S. national team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China; Melanie Booth
Melanie Booth
Melanie Lynn Booth is a Canadian football player who is a defender for the Vancouver Whitecaps.-International career:Booth was 17 years old when she won her first cap with Canada's senior team on 1 March 2002 at the Algarve Cup ... won a silver medal with Canada at the FIFA U-19 Women's World...
, who currently plays for the Canadian women's national soccer team, and Danielle Fotopoulos
Danielle Fotopoulos
Danielle Ruth Garrett Fotopoulos is a former American college, professional and international soccer player. Fotopoulos holds the all-time National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I records for goals and points, and was a member of the University of Florida team that won the 1998 NCAA...
, who played professionally with the Carolina Courage
Carolina Courage
Carolina Courage were a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Fetzer Field on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in 2001, and then at the soccer-specific SAS Stadium in Cary, North Carolina in 2002 and 2003. The team began play in 2001; the...
.
The Gators women's soccer team plays its home games at James G. Pressly Stadium
James G. Pressly Stadium
The James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track is a 4,500-seat dual-purpose stadium located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The stadium is home to the Florida Gators women's soccer team and the men's and women's Florida Gators track and field teams. The facility...
.
Softball
Women's College World Series
The Women's College World Series is the final portion of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship for college softball in the United States. The tournament format consists of two four-team double-elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket then compete in a best-of-three title game series...
in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
The Gators won the SEC regular season championships in 1998, 2008 and 2009, as well as the SEC tournament titles in 2008 and 2009. During the 2009 season, they also played for the NCAA softball championship on the biggest stage in all of college softball, the Women's College World Series, losing to the University of Washington Huskies in the final game.
The current head coach is Tim Walton
Tim Walton
Tim Walton is an American college softball coach and a former college and professional baseball player. Walton is currently the head coach of the Florida Gators softball team of the University of Florida...
, who is in his fourth year with the team. He was previously the head coach at Wichita State University
Wichita State University
Wichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....
and he played baseball for the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
and a minor league team affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
. Through the conclusion of the 2009 season, Walton has coached his Gators team to a record of 226–57 in four seasons, and he has an overall win-loss record of 349–121 during his seven seasons as a head coach.
The Gators softball team plays its home games at the Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
The Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium is the home field for the Florida Gators softball team: it is on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.-History:...
.
Swimming and diving
The Florida Gators men's swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
teams have won two NCAA national championships (1983 and 1984), and has also won thirty-three Southeastern Conference Championships. The women's swimming and diving team has won three NCAA national championships (1979, 1982, and 2010), and has also won seventeen SEC Championships.
The Florida Gators' famous female swimmers include three-time Olympic gold medalist Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Anne Caulkins Stockwell, OAM, is a former American college and international swimmer, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and a former world record-holder....
, three-time Olympic gold medalist Nicole Haislett
Nicole Haislett
Nicole Lee Haislett Bacher is a former American college and international swimmer who was an eight-time American national college champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist.- Early years :...
, and four-time Olympic gold medalist Dara Torres
Dara Torres
Dara Grace Torres is an American international swimmer and a twelve-time Olympic medalist. Torres was the first swimmer from the United States to compete in five Olympic Games , and, at age 41, the oldest swimmer ever to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team...
, who is also the first United States swimmer to compete in five Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
. Some of the Gators' most notable male swimmers are Ryan Lochte
Ryan Lochte
Ryan Steven Lochte is an American swimmer and a six-time Olympic medalist . As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay...
, Matt Cetlinski
Matt Cetlinski
Matthew J. "Matt" Cetlinski is a former American college and international swimmer who was an Olympic gold medalist.Cetlinski attended Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida...
, Michael Heath
Michael Heath (swimmer)
Michael Steward "Mike" Heath is a former American college and international swimmer who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist.- College career :...
, David Larson
David Larson
David Erwin Larson is a former American college and international swimmer who was an Olympic gold medalist.- Early years :Larson was born in Jesup, Georgia in 1959...
, Anthony Nesty
Anthony Nesty
Anthony Conrad Nesty is a former Surinamese international swimmer who was an Olympic gold medalist in the 100-metre butterfly event in 1988.- Early years :...
, Darian Townsend
Darian Townsend
Darian Roy Townsend is a college and international swimmer from South Africa who is an Olympic gold medalist.Townsend was born in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa....
, and Martin Zubero
Martin López-Zubero
Martín López-Zubero Purcell , also known as Martin Zubero, is a former college and international swimmer who was an Olympic gold medalist. López-Zubero was born in the United States, swam in international competition for Spain, and holds dual Spanish-American citizenship.- Family background...
.
The head coach of the men's and the women's swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
teams is Gregg Troy
Gregg Troy
Gregg Troy is an American college and Olympic swimming coach. He is the current head coach of the Florida Gators swimming and diving teams of the University of Florida; the Florida Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Southeastern Conference . ...
; Donnie Crane is the head coach of the men's and women's diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
teams.
The Gators swimming and diving teams hold their home meets at the Natatorium and the Carse Swimming Complex.
Tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
programs in NCAA history, producing such former greats as Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond is an American professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world number one ranking in doubles...
and Jill Craybas
Jill Craybas
- Early years :Craybas was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she played for coach Andy Brandi's Florida Gators women's tennis team in National Collegiate Athletics Association competition from 1993 to...
. Only the Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
women's tennis team has won more NCAA Championships than the Gators. The women's tennis team has won five NCAA championships (1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2011) and six Intercollegiate Tennis Association
Intercollegiate Tennis Association
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association is an organization of 1,500 coaches and 15,000 collegiate tennis players, encompassing more than 1,000 college tennis programs...
(ITA) national indoor championships (1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1999), and twenty-five SEC Championships.
The men's tennis team has won nine SEC Championships, and two singles and one doubles championships in the annual NCAA tournament.
Andy Jackson is the head coach of the men's tennis team, and coach Roland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist is a Swedish-born American college tennis coach and former college tennis player. Thornqvist is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team of the University of Florida...
leads the women's tennis team.
The Gators men's and women's tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
teams play their home matches at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex is the intercollegiate tennis facility at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It is home stadium and training facility for the Florida Gators women's tennis and the Florida Gators men's tennis teams.- Stadium :Linder Stadium is a 1,000-seat...
.
Track and field
The Florida Gators men's track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
team has won six Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships, and four SEC Outdoor Championships. After being the runner-up in both in both the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets in 2009, the men's team won both the 2010 and 2011 NCAA men's indoor track and field championships.
The women's track and field team won the NCAA Indoor Championship in 1992. In addition, the women's team has won six SEC Indoor Championships, and four SEC Outdoor Championships.
The head coach for the track and field program is Mike Holloway
Mike Holloway
Mike Holloway is an American college track and field coach. Holloway is the current head coach of the Florida Gators track and field and Gators cross country programs of the University of Florida...
, and he is responsible for both the men's and women's teams. The assistant coaches are Steve Lemke, Todd Morgan and Brian O'Neal.
The Gators men's and women's track and field teams hold their outdoor home meets at Percy Beard Track
James G. Pressly Stadium
The James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track is a 4,500-seat dual-purpose stadium located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The stadium is home to the Florida Gators women's soccer team and the men's and women's Florida Gators track and field teams. The facility...
, which is part of James G. Pressly Stadium.
Volleyball
The Gators began competing in women's volleyball in 1984 under coach Marilyn McReavy, but did not become nationally competitive until coach Mary WiseMary Wise
Mary Wise is an American college volleyball coach, former player and author. Wise is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's volleyball team of the University of Florida...
assumed control of Florida's program in 1991. During her twenty seasons as Florida's head coach, Wise has compiled a 632–69 win-loss record (.902), and her Gators teams have won nineteen SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
regular season titles and twelve SEC Tournament titles in her twenty seasons. The Gators have made nineteen trips to the NCAA Tournament, including seven NCAA Final Four appearances (1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003). In 2003, they advanced to the NCAA National Championship
NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA has contested team championships in women's volleyball since 1981. The following is a list of the champions of each division with their record for the year in which they won the championship, and the runner up, city, site and other final four participants for division I...
final, where they lost to the undefeated Southern California Trojans.
Florida landed the nation's top 2008 recruiting class, as ranked by Prepvolleyball.com and Volleyball Magazine, and signed the nation's top recruit and Gatorade National Player of the Year, Kelly Murphy, as well as four other recruits ranked among the top fifty. Murphy garnered First-Team All SEC and a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team with fellow Gators Colleen Ward and Kristy Jaeckel. Murphy would also gain the SEC Freshman of the Year, AVCA All-South Region Freshman of the Year, the AVCA National Freshman of the Year, and Volleyball Magazines Freshman of the Year. She was also honored as an AVCA Third-Team All-American and a Volleyball Magazine Second-Team All-American.
The Gators volleyball team plays its home matches in the O'Connell Center.
Former varsity sports
In the past, the Florida Gators fielded varsity teams in men's boxing, men's wrestling and men's volleyball. Gator boxer John Joca, a "Gator Great" member of the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame, won the NCAA national boxing championship in the 135-pound weight class in 1940. The Gators boxing team, however, was discontinued in 1943 during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and was never revived after the war. The Gators men's wrestling and men's volleyball teams were eliminated as a direct result of Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
compliance issues. The University Athletic Association, under athletic director Ray Graves
Ray Graves
Samuel Ray Graves is a former American college and professional football player and former college football coach. He is a native of Tennessee and an alumnus of the University of Tennessee, where he played college football...
, desired to take a proactive role in Title IX compliance by balancing the number of available men's and women's athletic scholarships, and this unfortunately resulted in the elimination of two men's varsity sports programs.
Gator athletes in the Olympic Games
The University of Florida has a reputation and long history of producing athletes who compete in the Olympic GamesOlympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
. Hundreds of University of Florida alumni have competed or coached in the Olympic Games. In total, over 150 Gator athletes from over thirty different countries have competed in the Games, winning forty-four Olympic gold medals, twenty-three silver medals and twenty-three bronze medals (through the end of the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
).
The list of notable Gator Olympians and gold medalists includes sprinters Kerron Clement
Kerron Clement
Kerron Stephon Clement is Trinidadian-born track and field athlete who represents the United States and specializes in the 400-meter hurdles...
, Dennis Mitchell
Dennis Mitchell
Dennis Allen Mitchell is a former American college and international track and field athlete, whose team won the gold medal in the 4 x 100 meters relay race at the 1992 Summer Olympics.- Athletic career :...
, and Bernard Williams
Bernard Williams (athlete)
Bernard Rollen Williams, III is an American track and field athlete and winner of a gold medal in 4×100-meters relay at the 2000 Summer Olympics.- Biography :Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Bernard Williams won the 100 m at the 1999 Pan-American Games....
; marathon runner Frank Shorter
Frank Shorter
Frank Charles Shorter is a former American long-distance runner who won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics. His victory is credited with igniting the running boom in the United States of the 1970s....
; baseball outfielder Brad Wilkerson
Brad Wilkerson
Stephen Bradley "Brad" Wilkerson is a former American college and professional baseball player who was an outfielder and first baseman in Major League Baseball for eight seasons in the 2000s. Wilkerson played college baseball for the University of Florida, and was selected by the Montreal Expos...
; basketball forward DeLisha Milton-Jones
DeLisha Milton-Jones
DeLisha Milton-Jones is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association . Milton-Jones played college basketball for the University of Florida. In her twelve-season WNBA career, she has played for the Washington Mystics and Los...
; soccer forward Abby Wambach
Abby Wambach
Mary Abigail "Abby" Wambach is an American professional soccer player, coach and Olympic gold medalist. A four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, she has been a regular on the U.S. women's national team since 2003...
; and swimmers Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Anne Caulkins Stockwell, OAM, is a former American college and international swimmer, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and a former world record-holder....
, Nicole Haislett
Nicole Haislett
Nicole Lee Haislett Bacher is a former American college and international swimmer who was an eight-time American national college champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist.- Early years :...
and Ryan Lochte
Ryan Lochte
Ryan Steven Lochte is an American swimmer and a six-time Olympic medalist . As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay...
.
Former Gator Dara Torres
Dara Torres
Dara Grace Torres is an American international swimmer and a twelve-time Olympic medalist. Torres was the first swimmer from the United States to compete in five Olympic Games , and, at age 41, the oldest swimmer ever to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team...
became the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2008). At the age of forty-one, Torres competed in the 2008 Olympic Games in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won the silver medal in all three events. Torres has won a total of twelve Olympic medals (including four gold) over her career.
Marching band, cheerleading and fan traditions
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
playing in the background, is displayed on Florida Field's jumbotron
Jumbotron
A JumboTron is a large-screen television using technology developed by Sony, typically used in sports stadiums and concert venues to show close-up shots of the event. Although JumboTron is a registered trademark owned by the Sony Corporation, the word jumbotron is often used by the public as a...
video screen during every football game before the players come out of the tunnel. ESPN's College Gameday analyst Lee Corso
Lee Corso
Leland "Lee" Corso is a sports broadcaster and football analyst for ESPN. He has been featured on ESPN's College GameDay program since its inception and he appeared annually as a commentator in EA Sports' NCAA Football through NCAA Football 11...
called it one of the most thrilling moments in college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
. Gator athletes and fans will perform the Gator Chomp
Gator Chomp
The Gator Chomp is a gesture made by fans and players of the University of Florida to show their support of their Florida Gators sports teams. The chomp originated in 1981....
at athletic events to symbolize the Gators' swallowing of their opponents.
"Orange and blue" is a fan cheer that is popular at home sports events, with alternate stadium sections yelling "Orange!", and answering back with their loudest "Blue!" This can go back and forth for several minutes, with both sections competing to be the louder.
The football team had a long-time tradition of having George Edmondson Jr.—better known as "Mr. Two Bits"—wandering through the stands with a sign and a whistle to pump up the crowd to the "Two Bits" cheer. Edmondson officially retired in 1998, and was made an honorary alumnus in 2005. His final appearance as Mr. Two Bits was at the last home game of the 2008 season against The Citadel.
The University of Florida's marching band is known as "The Pride of the Sunshine
The Pride of the Sunshine
The University of Florida Fightin' Gator Marching Band, also known as The Pride of the Sunshine, is the official marching band for the University of Florida. They play at every Florida Gators home football game in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and also performs at various other events such as pep...
," and plays at every home football game, and also performs at various events such as Gator Growl
Gator Growl
Gator Growl, produced by Florida Blue Key, is a student-run pep rally at the University of Florida that was founded in 1932. It marks the culminating moment of Homecoming Week at the university. Designated the largest student-run pep rally in the world, the show is held annually in Ben Hill Griffin...
and parades. The Gatorettes
Gatorettes
The Gatorettes are the Florida Gators' twirling dancers, and they are affiliated with The Pride of the Sunshine. Representing the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL.-Background information:The Gatorettes are the University of Florida's baton twirlers...
are the baton-twirlers, or majorettes, for the marching band.
Another football fan tradition, at home and on the road, is the Gator fans' linking arms, swaying, and singing "We Are the Boys from Old Florida" at the end of every third quarter. The University of Florida's fight song, "The Orange and Blue," is played frequently at all Florida Gators athletic events.
The Pride of the Sunshine plays the University of Florida Alma Mater at Florida Field before the start of every home football game. Following every home game, the entire football team gathers on Florida Field and joins fans in singing the Alma Mater while the band plays. Florida alumnus and former head football coach Steve Spurrier
Steve Spurrier
Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...
re-introduced this tradition to Florida Gators football games in 1990.
The University of Florida dance team that performs at home basketball games and other sports events is known as the Dazzlers
Florida Gators Dazzlers
The Dazzlers are a dance squad for the University of Florida, charged with performing at the home games for the Florida Gators basketball teams...
.
NACDA Directors' Cup
| Year | Ranking |
|---|---|
| 1983–1984 | 5th |
| 1984–1985 | 4th |
| 1985–1986 | 8th |
| 1986–1987 | 4th |
| 1987–1988 | 5th |
| 1988–1989 | 9th |
| 1989–1990 | 5th |
| 1990–1991 | 5th |
| 1991–1992 | 5th |
| 1992–1993 | 4th |
| 1993–1994 | 4th |
| 1994–1995 | 5th |
| 1995–1996 | 3rd |
| 1996–1997 | 5th |
| 1997–1998 | 2nd (tie) |
| 1998–1999 | 4th |
| 1999–2000 | 7th |
| 2000–2001 | 7th |
| 2001–2002 | 3rd |
| 2002–2003 | 7th |
| 2003–2004 | 6th |
| 2004–2005 | 6th |
| 2005–2006 | 5th |
| 2006–2007 | 6th |
| 2007–2008 | 6th |
| 2008–2009 | 3rd |
| 2009–2010 | 2nd |
| 2010–2011 | 4th |
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics is a professional organization for college and university athletic directors in the United States. NACDA boasts a membership of more than 6,100 individuals and more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico...
(NACDA) has recognized the University of Florida as being among the top ten NCAA Division I athletic programs in the country every year since 1983–1984, and marked the Gators' twenty-eighth consecutive year among the nation's top ten best overall collegiate athletic programs. No other Division I athletic program has matched that feat, and Florida has achieved this record while fielding fewer sports teams than many of the other perennial top collegiate athletic programs. In the initial twenty-eight years of the NACDA Directors' Cup, the Gators have finished fifth or better in nineteen years, and have never finished lower than ninth, a claim only Stanford can better.
Following the 2010–2011 school year, Florida finished in fourth place in the NACDA Directors' Cup standings. Fifteen of twenty-one eligible Florida Gators athletic teams finished their 2010–2011 seasons ranked among the top twenty-five Division I teams in their respective sports, including:
Gators Men's Sports Ranked in Top 20
- Gators baseball
Florida Gators baseballThe Florida Gators baseball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of baseball. The Florida Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association , and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference . They play their home games in Alfred A...
(2nd)- Gators men's basketball
Florida Gators men's basketballThe Florida Gators men's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Southeastern Conference...
(5th)- Gators men's golf (23rd)
- Gators men's swimming and diving (5th)
- Gators men's tennis
Florida Gators men's tennisThe Florida Gators men's tennis team represents the University of Florida in the sport of tennis. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference . The team hosts its home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's Gainesville,...
(9th)- Gators men's indoor track and field (1st)
- Gators men's outdoor track and field (3rd)
Gators Women's Sports Ranked in Top 20
- Gators women's golf
Florida Gators women's golfThe Florida Gators women's golf team represents the University of Florida in the sport of golf. The Lady Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Southeastern Conference . They play their home matches on the Mark Bostick Golf Course on the university's...
(10th)- Gators gymnastics (7th))
- Gators women's lacrosse
Florida Gators women's lacrosseThe Florida Gators women's lacrosse team represents the University of Florida in the sport of college lacrosse. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the American Lacrosse Conference . They play their home games in Donald R...
(5th)- Gators women's soccer (17th)
- Gators softball
Florida Gators softballThe Florida Gators softball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of softball. The Florida Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference...
(2nd)- Gators women's swimming and diving (7th)
- Gators women's tennis
Florida Gators women's tennisThe Florida Gators women's tennis team represents the University of Florida in the sport of tennis. The Lady Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference . They play their home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's...
(1st)- Gators volleyball (9th)
SEC All-Sports Trophy
Through the end of the 2010–2011 school year, the Florida Gators have won 201 Southeastern ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC) team championships, the most in conference history.
The SEC All-Sports Trophy began in 1973 as the Bernie Moore Trophy and tabulated the league's best men's sports program. In 1983, the SEC also began recognizing the best women's sports program in the conference, as well as the best overall SEC sports program. In 1994, the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group assumed responsibility for awarding the trophies. In the 37-year history of the awards, Florida has won eighteen Women's Trophies, fifteen Men's Trophies, and twenty-one Overall SEC All-Sports Trophies (including twenty-one of the last twenty-four).
SEC rival Georgia won the overall 2005–2006 All-Sports Trophy to snap Florida's record streak at fourteen straight (1990–1991 through 2004–2005). Florida reclaimed the SEC All-Sports Trophy for the 2006–2007 school year, and the Gators again swept the overall, men's and women's all-sports trophies in every year since. The Gators are the only SEC sports program to earn all three SEC all-sports trophies in a single year, and have swept all three trophies eleven times.
National championships
Men's National Championships
- Basketball (2): 2006 • 2007
- Football (3): 1996 • 2006 • 2008
- Golf (4): 1968 • 1973 • 1993 • 2001
- Indoor Track and Field (2): 2010 • 2011
- Swimming and Diving (2): 1983 • 1984
Women's National Championships
- Golf (2): 1985 • 1986
- Gymnastics (1): 1982
- Indoor Track and Field (1): 1992
- Soccer (1): 1998
- Swimming and Diving (3): 1979 • 1982 • 2010
- Tennis (5): 1992 • 1996 • 1998 • 2003 • 2011
The national intercollegiate sports championships listed above were sponsored by the NCAA unless otherwise noted in the footnotes.
Conference championships
The University of Florida is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), one of the nation's premier intercollegiate sports conferences, and twenty of twenty-one Gators teams compete in the SEC. Since the SEC began play in 1933, Florida's varsity athletic teams have won 201 SEC team championships, more than any other conference member. Among the other eleven current members of the SEC, the University of TennesseeTennessee Volunteers
The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the National Collegiate Athletic Association college sports teams at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mike Hamilton is the most recent Men's Athletic Director, but resigned on June 7, 2011, and Joan Cronan is the current Women's...
has won the next highest number of SEC team championships, with 150. The women's lacrosse team plays in the single-sport American Lacrosse Conference
American Lacrosse Conference
The American Lacrosse Conference is a NCAA Division I women's lacrosse-only college athletic conference whose members are located in the Midwest, on the East Coast, and increasingly in the Southeastern states from Illinois to Florida....
(ALC), and won its first regular season ALC championship in 2011. Through the spring term of the 2010–2011 school year, Florida's 202 SEC and ALC team championships include:
Men's conference championships
- Baseball (12): 1952 • 1956 • 1962 • 1981 • 1982 • 1984 • 1988 • 1996 • 1998 • 2005 • 2010 • 2011 • Tournament (5): 1981 • 1982 • 1984 • 1988 • 1991 • 2011
- Basketball (5): 1989 • 2000 • 2001 • 2007 • 2011 • Tournament (3): 2005 • 2006 • 2007
- Cross Country (3) 1955 • 1986 • 1987
- Football (8): 1991 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 2000 • 2006 • 2008
- Golf (15): 1955 • 1956 • 1968 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1985 • 1989 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1999 • 2003 • 2011
- Swimming and Diving (33): 1937 • 1938 • 1939 • 1940 • 1941 • 1953 • 1954 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1970 • 1971 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993
- Tennis (9): 1950 • 1961 • 1968 • 1969 • 1975 • 1994 • 2000 • 2003 • 2005 • Tournament (4): 1994 • 2000 • 2005 • 2011
- Indoor Track and Field (6): 1975 • 1976 • 1987 • 1988 • 2004 • 2011
- Outdoor Track and Field (4): 1953 • 1956 • 1987 • 2010
Women's conference championships
- Cross Country (5) 1984 • 1996 • 1997 • 2009 • 2010
- Golf (8): 1981 • 1982 • 1984 • 1986 • 1987 • 1991 • 1995 • 2008
- Gymnastics (7): 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1989 • 2007 • 2010
- Lacrosse (1): 2011
- Soccer (11): 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2004 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • Tournament (9): 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2004 • 2007 • 2010
- Softball (3): 1998 • 2008 • 2009 • Tournament (2): 2008 • 2009
- Swimming and Diving (17): 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 2002 • 2009
- Tennis (25): 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2001 • 2003 • 2004 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2010 • 2011 • Tournament (8): 2000 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2010 • 2011
- Indoor Track and Field (6): 1990 • 1992 • 1997 • 2002 • 2004 • 2010
- Outdoor Track and Field (5): 1992 • 1997 • 1998 • 2003 • 2009
- Volleyball (19): 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2010 • Tournament (12): 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2005
For purposes of counting "official" SEC team championships in baseball, men's and women's basketball, soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, and volleyball, the SEC currently only includes regular season team championships, not tournament championships. The Gators have won an additional forty-four SEC tournament titles in these sports which are not included in Florida's total of 201 SEC team championships.
Athletic facilities
The University of Florida has invested significant capital and effort in the construction, expansion and betterment of its major sports facilities, including the following outdoor stadiums, indoor arenas, and training and practice facilities:Alfred A. McKethan Stadium at Perry Field
Alfred A. McKethan Stadium
Alfred A. McKethan Stadium at Perry Field is the college baseball stadium of the University of Florida, and serves as the home field for the Florida Gators baseball team. McKethan Stadium is located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus, in close proximity to the university's indoor...
- Originally built in 1988, McKethan Stadium has played host to the Gators baseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team's home games as well as NCAA regional baseball tournaments for more than two decades. Renovated in 2007, the facility was expanded to seat up to 6,000 fans, and the locker rooms and offices were also upgraded.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field
- The Gators footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team plays its home games in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The stadium was originally constructed in 1930, and was known simply as "Florida Field." In 1989, it was renamed in honor of Ben Hill Griffin, Jr.Ben Hill Griffin, Jr.Ben Hill Griffin, Jr. was a prominent American businessman, citrus grower, politician and philanthropist who was a native and resident of Florida. Griffin was an alumnus of the University of Florida, a former state legislator, a one-time candidate for governor and a patron of college sports and...
, an alumnus and generous donor to the university and its athletic programs. Since the arrival of coach Steve Spurrier in 1990, the stadium has become nationally known as the "Swamp." The Swamp has been renovated and expanded several times, and has included a natural grass surface since 1990. With the latest expansions, the stadium has an official capacity of 88,548 people, but routinely accommodates more than 90,000 fans for the Gators' home football games. The Swamp is the 12th largest college football stadium in America as measured by official seating capacitySeating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
.
Carse Swimming Complex
- Built in 1998 at a cost of $2 million, Carse Swimming Complex is a two-story, 7000 square feet (650.3 m²) facility that includes locker rooms, offices, and direct access to the UAA training pool. The swimming complex is located adjacent to the O'Connell Center.
Florida Basketball Practice Complex
Florida Gators men's basketball
The Florida Gators men's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Southeastern Conference...
- Completed in 2001, the Basketball Practice Complex is a two-story, 47505 square feet (4,413.4 m²) structure that includes multiple practice gyms, a training room, and a 1900 square feet (176.5 m²) weight room.
Florida Lacrosse Facility
Florida Gators women's lacrosse
The Florida Gators women's lacrosse team represents the University of Florida in the sport of college lacrosse. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the American Lacrosse Conference . They play their home games in Donald R...
- Completed during the summer of 2009, the Florida Lacrosse Facility will host the new women's lacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
team when it begins play in January 2010. The 1,500-seat stadium runs the length of the game field, and the facility includes a second practice field. The facility also includes concessions, ticket offices, locker rooms and a training room.
James G. Pressly Stadium and Percy Beard Track
James G. Pressly Stadium
The James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track is a 4,500-seat dual-purpose stadium located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The stadium is home to the Florida Gators women's soccer team and the men's and women's Florida Gators track and field teams. The facility...
- Pressly Stadium is a combined soccer and track and fieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
facility that includes Percy Beard Track. The facility was renovated in 1995, when 2,500 bench seats were added to the existing 2,000-seat concrete grandstandGrandstandA grandstand is a large and normally permanent structure for seating spectators, most often at a racetrack. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap all or most of the way...
, increasing the total seating capacitySeating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
to more than 4,500 spectators. The stadium is located on campus, between McKethan Stadium and Linder Stadium, and was renamed in honor of James G. Pressly, Jr., a University of Florida alumnus and benefactor. The women's soccer team plays its home games in Pressly Stadium.
- Percy Beard Track was renovated in 1995 at a cost of $750,000, and the pole vaultPole vaultPole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
and long jumpLong jumpThe long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
pits were moved from the infield to an area outside the track to accommodate the new soccer field. The men's and women's track and field teams host their home meets and the annual Florida Relays on Percy Beard Track during the outdoor track season.
Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium
The Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium is the home field for the Florida Gators softball team: it is on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.-History:...
- Constructed in 1996 at a cost of $2.6 million, Pressly Softball Stadium is the home field of the Gators women's softballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
team. The facility is located on campus, seats approximately 1,200 fans, includes a clay infield and a grass outfield, and complies with NCAA and Olympic specifications. The stadium is named for benefactor Katie Pressly. The Gators played their first game in the stadium against Stetson UniversityStetson UniversityStetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. The primary undergraduate campus is located in DeLand, Florida, USA. In the 2012 U.S...
on February 8, 1997.
Lemerand Center
University of Florida Athletic Association
The University Athletic Association, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that is responsible for maintaining the Florida Gators intercollegiate sports program of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida...
- Built in 1995 and named in honor of donor Gale LemerandGale LemerandL. Gale Lemerand is an entrepreneur, restaurateur and prominent philanthropist. He is the subject of "To Win in Business... Bet on the Jockey," which tells his remarkable and inspiring entrepreneur story....
, the Lemerand Center is a 43000 square feet (3,994.8 m²) all-sports facility that includes locker rooms, storage, and training equipment, and is used by all varsity athletes at the University of Florida.
Mark Bostick Golf Course and Guy Bostick Clubhouse
- Designed by golf course architect Donald Ross and originally developed in 1963, the eighteen-hole Mark Bostick Golf Course is the official golf course of the University of Florida. The men's and women's golfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
teams play their home matches on the course, and the course also hosts the Gator and Lady Gator Golf Day Pro-Am. The course is 6,701 yards in length, and is rated as a par 70. In 2001, Bobby WeedBobby WeedRobert C. Weed, Jr., ASGCA is a golf course designer, builder, and protégé of Pete Dye. Weed's work includes Tournament Players Club courses, the Slammer and Squire at World Golf Village, and the redesign of the Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida...
renovated the course with a $4 million donation from benefactor Mark Bostick.
- The Guy Bostick Clubhouse is equipped with numerous amenities and includes over 8000 square feet (743.2 m²) of interior space.
Steinbrenner Band Hall
The Pride of the Sunshine
The University of Florida Fightin' Gator Marching Band, also known as The Pride of the Sunshine, is the official marching band for the University of Florida. They play at every Florida Gators home football game in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and also performs at various other events such as pep...
- Finished in 2008, Steinbrenner Band Hall is The Pride of the SunshineThe Pride of the SunshineThe University of Florida Fightin' Gator Marching Band, also known as The Pride of the Sunshine, is the official marching band for the University of Florida. They play at every Florida Gators home football game in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and also performs at various other events such as pep...
's rehearsal hall, and also houses offices, instrument storage, the band library and an instrument issue room. Construction of the band hall was made possible by a generous gift from George SteinbrennerGeorge SteinbrennerGeorge Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series...
and his wife Joan in 2002.
Scott Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex is the intercollegiate tennis facility at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It is home stadium and training facility for the Florida Gators women's tennis and the Florida Gators men's tennis teams.- Stadium :Linder Stadium is a 1,000-seat...
- Originally constructed in 1987, Linder Stadium serves as the home court of the men's and women's tennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
teams. The facility was renovated at a cost of $1.7 million in 1999, when the building interior space was expanded to 7163 square feet (665.5 m²), and includes coaches' offices, a training room, locker rooms, and a 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) exterior courtyard. The stadium includes a 1,000-seat grandstand overlooking the six lighted main courts, and also includes a second row of nine practice courts. The complex is located on campus, adjacent to the College of Law and James G. Pressly Stadium.
Stephen C. O'Connell Center
- Constructed from 1977 to 1980, the O'Connell Center is a multi-purpose arena that is home to the men's and women's basketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, women's gymnasticsGymnasticsGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, men's and women's indoor track and fieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and women's volleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
teams. It is commonly known as the "O'Dome." In its major interior space, the O'Connell Center can accommodate over 12,000 sports fans, and the university also uses the facility for graduation ceremonies and a variety of concerts, lectures and shows. The O'Dome also includes the Natatorium, where the Gators swimmingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and divingDivingDiving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
teams compete.
List of notable Gators athletes
University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame
Over 250 notable former Gators athletes and coaches have been inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame inductees fall into three categories: "Gator Greats"; "Distinguished Letterwinners"; and "Honorary Letterwinners." Gator Greats are those former athletes who distinguished themselves during their undergraduate sports careers, and include former All-Americans, all-conference selections, winners of major national awards, individual national champions, and those who significantly contributed to national team championships. Distinguished Letterwinners are those former Gators athletes who achieved distinction after graduation, as athletic coaches or administrators, professional athletes, or in public service or other career activities. Honorary Letterwinners are those persons who are not University of Florida alumni and former undergraduate athletes, but have distinguished themselves by their significant contributions to the success of Florida Gators sports teams, including former championship Gators coaches.Gator Greats include Heisman Trophy winners Steve Spurrier
Steve Spurrier
Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...
and Danny Wuerffel
Danny Wuerffel
Daniel Carl "Danny" Wuerffel is a former American college and professional football player who won the 1996 Heisman Trophy and the 1996 national football championship while playing college football for the University of Florida. After graduating from Florida, he played for four National Football...
; consensus first-team All-Americans Carlos Alvarez
Carlos Alvarez (American football)
Carlos Alvarez Vasquez Rodriguez Ubieta is a former American college football player who was an All-American wide receiver for the University of Florida from 1969 to 1971.- Early life :...
, Wilber Marshall
Wilber Marshall
Wilber Buddyhia Marshall is a former American college and professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League for twelve seasons during the 1980s and 1990s...
and Emmitt Smith
Emmitt Smith
Emmitt James Smith, III is a retired American football player who was a running back in the National Football League for fifteen seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Smith played college football for the University of Florida, where he was an All-American; thereafter, he played professionally for...
; Olympic gold medal swimmers Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Anne Caulkins Stockwell, OAM, is a former American college and international swimmer, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and a former world record-holder....
, Nicole Haislett
Nicole Haislett
Nicole Lee Haislett Bacher is a former American college and international swimmer who was an eight-time American national college champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist.- Early years :...
and Dara Torres
Dara Torres
Dara Grace Torres is an American international swimmer and a twelve-time Olympic medalist. Torres was the first swimmer from the United States to compete in five Olympic Games , and, at age 41, the oldest swimmer ever to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team...
; individual NCAA golf champions Page Dunlap
Page Dunlap
E. Page Dunlap-Halpin is a former American professional golfer who was a member of the LPGA Tour for six years during the 1990s. Dunlap is best known for winning the individual NCAA Division I Championship in 1986.- Early years :...
, Nick Gilliam
Nick Gilliam
Nick Gilliam is an American professional golfer. Gilliam is best known for winning the individual NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship in 2001.- Early years :Gilliam was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin...
and Bob Murphy
Bob Murphy (golfer)
Robert Joseph Murphy, Jr. is an American professional golfer who was formerly a member of the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour. Murphy has won 21 tournaments as a professional.-Early years:...
; Olympic gold medal soccer players Heather Mitts
Heather Mitts
Heather Blaine Mitts Feeley is an American professional soccer player who is a defender in the Women's Professional Soccer league. Mitts played college soccer for the University of Florida, and thereafter, she has played professionally for the Philadelphia Charge, Boston Breakers, Philadelphia...
and Abby Wambach
Abby Wambach
Mary Abigail "Abby" Wambach is an American professional soccer player, coach and Olympic gold medalist. A four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, she has been a regular on the U.S. women's national team since 2003...
; and individual NCAA tennis champions Jill Craybas
Jill Craybas
- Early years :Craybas was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she played for coach Andy Brandi's Florida Gators women's tennis team in National Collegiate Athletics Association competition from 1993 to...
, Jeff Morrison
Jeff Morrison
Jeffrey Alan "Jeff" Morrison is an American professional tennis player.Morrison is perhaps best known for being the last American male left standing in the singles draw at Wimbledon in 2002....
and Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond is an American professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world number one ranking in doubles...
.
Distinguished Letterwinners include head coaches Doug Dickey
Doug Dickey
Douglas Adair "Doug" Dickey is a former American college football player and coach and college athletics administrator. Dickey is a South Dakota native who was raised in Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, where he played college football...
, Lindy Infante
Lindy Infante
Gelindo "Lindy" Infante is a former American college football player and assistant coach, who became an offensive coordinator and head coach in both the National Football League and the United States Football League...
and Dutch Stanley
Dennis K. Stanley
Dennis Keith "Dutch" Stanley, Sr. was an American education professor, university administrator and intercollegiate sports coach. Stanley was a native of England, but graduated from high school in Florida...
, as well as U.S. Senator George Smathers
George Smathers
George Armistead Smathers was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Florida in the United States Senate for eighteen years, from 1951 until 1969, as a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
.
Honorary Letterwinners include former Gators national championship coaches Buster Bishop
Buster Bishop
Bernays Emery "Buster" Bishop was an American college golf coach. Bishop was best known for leading the Florida Gators men's golf team of the University of Florida to National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I championships in 1968 and 1973.- Early life and education :Bishop was born in...
, Andy Brandi
Andy Brandi
Andres V. "Andy" Brandi is a former American college and professional tennis coach. Brandi was formerly the head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team of the University of Florida...
, Randy Reese
Randy Reese
Randy Reese is an American college and Olympic swimming coach. Reese is best known for coaching the Florida Gators swimming and diving teams to four national championships, and coaching the winners of eighteen Olympic gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals...
and Mimi Ryan
Mimi Ryan
Mimi Ryan is a former American college golf coach. Ryan was the founder and long-time head coach of the Florida Gators women's golf program at the University of Florida...
, former football coach and four-star general James Van Fleet
James Van Fleet
James Alward Van Fleet was a U.S. Army officer during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Van Fleet was a native of New Jersey, who was raised in Florida and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. He served as a regimental, divisional and corps commander during World War II and as...
, as well as medical professor Robert Cade
Robert Cade
James Robert Cade was an American physician, university professor, research scientist and inventor. Cade, a native of Texas, earned his undergraduate and medical degrees, and became a professor of medicine and nephrology at the University of Florida...
, who invented the sports drink Gatorade
Gatorade
Gatorade is a brand of sports-themed food and beverage products, built around its signature product: a line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo, distributed in over 80 countries...
as a rehydration aid to assist Gators athletes.
List of notable Gator sports benefactors
The Florida Gators sports team have been fortunate to receive the financial support of many individuals, but some stand out by the magnitude of their contributions. Among those who have made notably large contributions to the university's sports programs are:
|
Ben Hill Griffin, Jr. Ben Hill Griffin, Jr. was a prominent American businessman, citrus grower, politician and philanthropist who was a native and resident of Florida. Griffin was an alumnus of the University of Florida, a former state legislator, a one-time candidate for governor and a patron of college sports and... Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field is the football stadium for the University of Florida and the home field of the university's Florida Gators football team. It is located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. The stadium was originally built in 1930, and has been regularly... |
Alfred A. McKethan Alfred Augustus McKethan was a prominent American banker, citrus grower, businessman and political appointee who was a native and resident of Florida.- Early life and education :... Steve Melnyk (golfer) Steven N. Melnyk is a former American professional golfer and golf sportscaster best known for his success as an amateur golfer. Melnyk won both the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur.- Early years :... |
James G. Pressly Stadium The James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track is a 4,500-seat dual-purpose stadium located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The stadium is home to the Florida Gators women's soccer team and the men's and women's Florida Gators track and field teams. The facility... Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium The Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium is the home field for the Florida Gators softball team: it is on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.-History:... Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex is the intercollegiate tennis facility at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It is home stadium and training facility for the Florida Gators women's tennis and the Florida Gators men's tennis teams.- Stadium :Linder Stadium is a 1,000-seat... George Steinbrenner George Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series... |
See also
- GatoradeGatoradeGatorade is a brand of sports-themed food and beverage products, built around its signature product: a line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo, distributed in over 80 countries...
- Gator ChompGator ChompThe Gator Chomp is a gesture made by fans and players of the University of Florida to show their support of their Florida Gators sports teams. The chomp originated in 1981....
- History of the University of FloridaHistory of the University of FloridaThe history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida, colloquially known as "Florida" or "UF," originated as several distinct institutions that were merged to create a single state-supported university by the...
- List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members
- Robert CadeRobert CadeJames Robert Cade was an American physician, university professor, research scientist and inventor. Cade, a native of Texas, earned his undergraduate and medical degrees, and became a professor of medicine and nephrology at the University of Florida...
External links
- GatorZone.com – Official website of Florida Gators athletic program
- GatorSports.com – Gators sports news from The Gainesville Sun
- GatorCountry.com – The "insider" website for Florida Gators sports