Florida Gators

Gator Fans:

One of the key roles of college athletics, in addition to educating and preparing leaders for the future, is getting alumni and friends of the university engaged and back on campus. That is exactly what will be happening this week as UF hosts its annual Homecoming football game and other activities for alumni and friends of the program. I am looking forward to my first Homecoming Parade and Gator Growl on Friday, and then watching the Gators take on LSU at 3:30 p.m. in The Swamp.

I would like to address the fact that traditional league power LSU is the Gators' Homecoming opponent this year. Contrary to what has been speculated, the Athletic Association does not select which game will be selected to serve as Homecoming. Instead, the UF Faculty Senate determines the annual Homecoming date, taking into consideration other events on campus and, since the Friday of Homecoming week is a campus holiday, how a particular date would impact the overall university calendar.

However, it's not unusual for the Gators to play a league foe for Homecoming. In fact, Florida has hosted an SEC opponent in 20 of the last 21 years, including LSU twice (in 1996 and 2006).

As you are most likely aware, there was some off-the-field news surrounding our football program back in August that had legal implications for some of our student-athletes. While I cannot get into the details publicly, we obviously took this matter very seriously, as evidenced by Coach McElwain's decision to suspend the players immediately from all team activities as soon as he became aware of the issue. We have respected the appropriate process from the beginning and will continue to do so.

It has been a busy first month and a half of the year. Our home football opener was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma and we were fortunate to be able to play Tennessee the following week. I am very thankful for the tremendous cooperation and communication between the local authorities, the Southeastern Conference, Northern Colorado and Tennessee, as we worked through the decision-making process for both games.

We hosted a thank-you breakfast on the Friday before the Tennessee game in Gainesville for those involved with local clean-up and recovery efforts, wore a remembrance decal on our helmets, and made our fans aware of various ways they could contribute to relief efforts.
 
While our football team is off to an undefeated mark in league play, our volleyball team has vaulted to the number one ranking and our soccer team is currently ranked 10th in the nation. Both teams are also home this week (volleyball tonight vs. Texas A&M and soccer on Thursday against Missouri). Our men's and women's cross country teams are also in full swing under first-year assistant coach Chris Solinsky. The golf, tennis and swimming teams are also competing in their fall seasons, while men's and women's basketball start practice in the coming week and their seasons are just around the corner.

While Gator Athletics continues to perform at a high level, the university was also recently recognized as an institution worthy of a top-10 ranking. The University of Florida has become the first Florida school to break into the list of top 10 best public universities, coming in at No. 9, according to the 2018 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings released Sept. 13.
 

When you're the president of a Top 10 public university you get cool swag. @PresidentFuchs @UF ??????  #GoGators #WeChomp pic.twitter.com/TrMflk2VSH

— Scott Stricklin (@ScottStricklin) September 21, 2017

We are very thankful for your support and appreciate the many ways that provide that support, from participating in the Gator Boosters Game Changer Initiative, buying a ticket to one of our events, wearing Orange and Blue, hanging a flag on your porch or simply saying, "Go Gators!"

Have a wonderful week, and we look forward to hosting you and all of Gator Nation this weekend in Gainesville. Go Gators!

Scott Stricklin
@ScottStricklin