Championship Touch: National Titles Adding Up for Gators Under Foley's Watch
Friday, June 5, 2015 | Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley was amidst the joyous celebration that took place late Wednesday night at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
Soon after the final pitch of Florida's 4-1 win against Michigan to win the program's second consecutive national championship, Foley made his way to the field and joined the fray.
Foley knows the drill.
The Gators softball team's national title is Florida's 26th national championship since he took over UF's athletic department in March 1992. Foley moved into a tie with UCLA's Dan Guerrero for most national titles among sitting athletic directors.
Like the rest of Gator Nation, Foley anxiously watched as Gators senior pitcher Lauren Haeger closed out her career with another dominant outing.
“It's hard to do,'' he told GatorZone.com. “Every team that wins a national championship has someone like that.”
National titles have been a part of Foley's tenure from the beginning. Four days after he was named UF's athletic director on March 9, 1992, the UF women's indoor track and field team won a national title in Indianapolis.
A major emphasis for Foley is providing resources to each of UF's 21 athletic programs to compete on a national stage, a mantra he repeated recently in introducing new men's basketball coach Michael White and gymnastics coach Jenny Rowland.
The trophies have piled up since Foley's first 23 years ago, including 14 since the start of the 2008-09 academic year. The 14 championships tie Southern Cal for the most over that span.
Here are other notables about the Gators and national championships:
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Florida has won 17 national championships since 2006, also tied with USC during that time frame.
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Florida is the only school in the nation that has captured multiple national championships in each of the last six years.
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The Gators (gymnastics and softball) are one of two programs to win back-to-back national championships the last two years in two different sports (UConn in women's basketball and field hockey). Oregon has a chance to match if its men's men's outdoor track and field team repeats. The Ducks men's indoor team has won back-to-back championships.
The softball team's championship is the school's 35th national title (33 NCAA; two AIAW).
