Gator Nation Laughed Along with Coach Fuchs and President McElwain
Thursday, April 2, 2015 | Football, Women's Tennis, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Both are relatively new to Gator Nation, but in their short tenures at Florida, UF President Kent Fuchs and head football coach Jim McElwain have shown they know how to laugh.
They say a sense of humor can go a long way in life, and Fuchs and McElwain are living examples.
As part of an elaborate April Fools' Day joke on Wednesday, Fuchs and McElwain swapped jobs.
Fuchs grabbed a whistle and McElwain slipped on a scholar's robe. Actually, they filmed their prank last week and it was released publicly in multiple stages throughout Wednesday on social media.
There was a "breaking news story" in the Independent Florida Alligator. A video produced by GatorVision.tv. A series of tweets and photos from Fuchs' and McElwain's Twitter accounts.
The joke caught the attention of national media and various websites that regularly cover the Gators. University Athletic Association social media manager Bruce Floyd, who played an important role in helping pull off the April Fools' Day fun, collected data on the job swap's impact on social media.
Turns out Gator Nation tuned in and laughed along with Fuchs and McElwain. Here is data Floyd gathered:
- Our tweets had close to a half million impressions.
- Video was viewed almost 200,000 times
- Reached over 800k people on Facebook
- Was shared by major online sports / news networks including ESPN, SEC Network, Yahoo Sports, SB*Nation.
The UF Communications staff would like to say 'thank you' for playing along. In case you took Wednesday off from the Internet, here is a Storify that captures the day of fun for Coach Fuchs and President McElwain:
