From the Director's Desk -- Q&A with Jeremy Foley
Wednesday, June 24, 2015 | Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A second-to-short force out off the bat of Richie Martin late Saturday put a wrap on the University of Florida's 2014-15 athletic season. The UF baseball team made a deep run into the NCAA Tournament, with its season ending the one place every coach and player wants it to end.
In Omaha.
Athletic Director Jeremy Foley was there and quite prideful of the performance the Gators put up in playing their best baseball late in the season, falling just one win shy of playing in the national championship series.
Foley barely will have time to straighten his desk before the 2015-16 athletic calendar flips -- mark it down, UF soccer plays Florida Gulf Coast on Aug. 15 -- to open the fall sports season.
GatorZone sat down with the Gators' CEO for its annual “From the Director's Desk” look-back at the year -- one that saw the hiring of football coach Jim McElwain and the emotional exit of basketball icon Billy Donovan for the NBA -- and accompanying glance to the athletic seasons ahead.
Every year is an eventful one. Some more than others. When you think back on the last 10-11 months of UF athletics, what thoughts come to mind?
“Obviously, an unusual year in some manner. A difficult year at times. Obviously, a rewarding year in other areas. Whenever you win national championships or compete for national championships, that's why we do what we do. Making a coaching change in football is not what we like to do. Obviously, that was difficult. Losing two high-profile and successful coaches, that was difficult as well. So, you look back and say, 'Wow! That was a wild year.' But, you also look back and you're excited. You're excited about Jenny Rowland, excited about Coach Mac and Coach White. Softball was in Oklahoma City winning a championship, a second straight. That's why we get up in the morning, to do stuff like that. We were in Omaha competing at the highest level. Certainly national championships in gymnastics and softball and SEC titles, that was a rewarding year. But the personnel changes made it a little different than normal.”
For the first time in 25 years -- and first time on your watch -- you had to replace the two highest-profile coaches at Florida. That had to be tough.
“I've been asked that question. People say, 'You've had a tough year.' Well, there are some personal parts that were tough. We had strong feelings for Will and some very strong feelings for Billy and for Rhonda. So, there's some personal emotion that goes with that. But, hiring coaches is what we do. That's part of the job. It's not like, 'I have to hire a coach, what am I going to do.' That's the hand you're dealt. That being the case, we have great jobs here, a great university here and I love the hires. Time will tell if they're good ones. But, I've been around Coach Mac enough to like the direction he's headed. I think the guy has a plan. He's put together one of the best assistant coaching staffs I've ever been around. He's thoughtful, he's deliberate, he can recruit -- and I think his track record says he can coach. Jenny and Mike? I haven't been around them long, but I love their energy and passion and everything we saw when we interviewed them and hired them. When you look back, hiring new coaches has always energized us. People ask me all the time, 'What's the favorite part of your job?' Well, I have a lot of favorite parts. Bringing new coaches in and supporting them and watching them do what we hired them to do, we enjoy the heck out of that. I loved watching what Rhonda did. I love watching what Tim Walton has done. And it doesn't happen overnight. Love what Kevin O'Sullivan has done. We hired him. He'd never been a head coach before. He's been here eight years and been to Omaha four times. He's won more than 40 games six times. We enjoy that part of it. So, as you look back on the year, some satisfaction is felt because of the success of the program -- the Director's Cup and all-sports rankings -- but we're certainly excited about the future of the program under our new coaches and direction of our coaches who have been here.”
Have you thought about, after 19 years, sitting at your regular seat on press row at the O'Connell Center and looking across the court and not seeing Billy Donovan?
“That will be very strange after the last 19 years. We hired Billy in 1996. I had been AD for four years. So, almost my whole career as athletic director, I sat across from him and watched him coach. I talked to him before every game here. I talked to him after every game here. That'll be strange, very strange. I'll be honest: It was strange when Steve Spurrier ran out of that other tunnel for the first time. But, it happened and then life goes on. I'm equally excited to see what Mike is going to do. He's our guy now. Will there be a difference? Of course. We all hope he can duplicate the success on the court. But, in terms of who he is off the court, I think he's a lot like Billy, with how honest he is, his integrity, the way he makes people feel, his sense of humor. He is one of us already. Yeah, it'll be different, but that won't last long. We'll watch the game and it'll be Michael White over there. And his team.”
Facilities were a major topic of conversation the past year, what with the issues with the O'Dome renovations and that enormous indoor practice facility rising in the distance. How would you sum of the state of UF's facilities?
“As I told the Board of Directors and boosters a couple of weeks ago, obviously, facilities are part of the equation of being successful. We pay attention to facilities. We always have. Our track record says so. We have $100-plus million of facilities under construction right now. We're designing more things as we speak. Whether it's an expansion of the football facilities or the softball facilities or trying to tweak some stuff down at baseball, there are architects working on those things as we speak. Facilities are important to us and I would tell you the University of Florida pays a lot of attention to facilities. I'll always tell you, also, that facilities are only part of the equation. The University is part of the equation. The academics. The fan base. The head coach. Billy Donovan put together a Final Four team before he had that practice facility. Rhonda Faehn won a national championship before she had her new gymnastics studio. Tim Walton had back-to-back softball championships before the expansion of that facility was contemplated. You know why? Because athletes want to come and play for him -- and play for the Gators. They see the commitment, they see the passion, they see the education. It's all part of the equation. So, we continue to pay attention and continue to be committed. Look at the O'Connell Center, Office of Student Life, indoor football practice facility, the basketball weight room, the dorms -- all of those projects are going on as we speak. Like I said, Florida pays attention to facilities.”
You mentioned the O'Dome. That $60 million renovation project was supposed to start in March, but was delayed a year. It's been four months since that decision was made. Where does that project stand?
“The O'Dome was postponed for legitimate business reasons. We were not comfortable where it was headed and where the funding was at that time. The schedule was too aggressive. It just wasn't a prudent business decision to continue. So, we postponed it for a year. One year. That's the key point. We are totally committed to it. We will have the funding in place. We're close to it right now. The university is committed to it. Dr. Fuchs is committed to it. It has to happen. We're looking to have the final pricing probably before the school year starts and we're confident it'll be where we want it to be, then people will start seeing some things happening in November. We are on track, we are committed and I am very confident that schedule will play out.”
A year ago, the SEC Network was a big curiosity. A year later, what is your take on it?
“Off the charts pleased. Tremendous credit to [former SEC commissioner] Mike Slive and his staff and Justin Connolly [ESPN executive vice president] and his staff. They launched the most successful cable network in history -- almost 70 million homes in the first year; not even a year yet. Available in 90 million homes. It generated significant dollars in its first year for every school in this league that will help us cover the new cost of attendance for initiative for our student athletes. Obviously, tremendous exposure for all the programs and that just continues to build, as far as their concepts, ideas, telling the stories of our coaches and athletes. I just think, again, tremendous credit to the leadership of this league and ESPN to put together that a year later is beyond our wildest dreams. And they'll get better. I've already seen some ideas. The University of Florida takeover and the rest of the league schools, for 24 hours straight in July -- and they are just so creative. It's no accident they are so successful, just like ESPN and ESPN2. The job they do in the college football playoffs, baseball and softball. They are really, really good. They've made the SEC Network special and it's only going to get better.”
What about the Gator fans who have dealt with all the coaching turnover and cheered on their teams from afar? Do you have a message for them heading toward your 24th year overseeing UF athletics?
“I would tell our fan base that we appreciate their continued support. One of the things that makes the University of Florida special is the passion of our fans. And when you're not as successful as you want to be in Sport A or Sport B, that passion cuts both ways. But, that passion is what is really, really special. I'd tell our fans, especially as it relates to football, that we absolutely know how important it is to them. I would tell them we understand and, candidly, we made a very difficult coaching change. It was not what we expected around here and certainly was not what Will Muschamp expected. We're excited about the future. I don't think it gets built overnight. Nothing does. But, we're headed in the right direction. They're a big part of the equation. I would tell them where we need to get better we are going to get better. Basketball had an atypical year and for the two months after the season, you had never seen a guy work as hard as Billy did to try and turn that around. Now, that's Mike White's job. But, there is some talent there and it's his program now. We're going to better there, just like we've gotten better in other sports. Like golf. JC Deacon? The team he's recruited? He just brought in four of the top nine golf recruits in the country. So, I would tell our fans that we share their passion, we pay attention and we know where we need to get better and we're going to work like heck to get better. We need them along for the ride, as they have been. We appreciate them.”
