GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The overriding theme of the 2021-22 University of Florida athletic year, without question, was change. Not that there weren't some amazing achievements in the competitive arenas. There were.
But the most seismic developments were those that rocked individual programs in the form of transition. The Out-With-the-Old, In-With-the-New circumstances varied. A couple decisions to move on were made by UF administration, another was by choice.
Whatever the case, the fallout of those circumstances commenced reboots to four different Florida programs, including the two highest-profile sports on campus. Those new-look Gator teams, in turn, have an element of excitement about them.
Some of the old-lookers … well … continued their looks and their traditions for success.
1) DAWN OF A NEW BRAND OF 'BILLY BALL'
"The culture precedes positive results. Champions behave like champions before they're champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners." – Bill Walsh#GoGators | @GatorsFBpic.twitter.com/h2aGSybr0v
This time last year, the Florida football team was coming off a third consecutive season that ended in a New Year's Six Bowl. The Gators' offense had been among the most explosive in the country, their quarterback was a Heisman Trophy finalist and two receivers had been taken in the first round of the NFL Draft. Billy Napier Dan Mullen's program had a ton of momentum.
So everyone thought.
As it turned out, the Gators didn't have a ton of players ready to continue the run. Recruiting had waned significantly and UF found out in 2021 that the likes of Kentucky, South Carolina and Missouri had similar quality players. Ditto UCF, which defeated Florida in the Gasparilla Bowl a month after the Gators and Mullen parted ways after less than four seasons. UF finished 6-7, just the third losing record for the program in the last 41 years.
In between Mullen's exit and the bowl game defeat, Florida hired Billy Napier, by way of the University of Louisiana, to become its 28th football coach. Napier, 42 and with assistant stops at five different venues (including for Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney), went 40-12 in four seasons guiding the Ragin' Cajuns, with a 33-5 mark over his last three and a Sun Belt Conference title — the school's first in more than a half-century — in 2021.
At his introduction news conference, Napier spoke of today's college football coaches being in the "talent acquisition business," and with that brought a meticulously detailed plan to rebuild the Florida program not only when it comes to recruiting and the transfer portal, but with an emphasis on "Name, Image and Likeness," the overall student-athlete experience and instilling an element of discipline that for more than a decade has too often been absent both on the field and off the field.
Gator Nation, thus far, has overwhelmingly approved of the new direction.
1a) FROM THE GOLDEN STATE
Athletic Director Scott Stricklin (left) introduces new UF basketball coach Todd Golden at the March 23 news conference at Exactech Arena.
No one will know if there would've been any difficult conversations between UF athletic director Scott Stricklin and men's basketball coach Mike White, after the Gators went 19-13 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since White's inaugural '15-16 season. Before the team even received its consolation NIT bid, White bolted for the vacant job at Georgia.
And before the end of the NCAA Tournament's opening round, the Gators had a new coach in Todd Golden, via the University of San Francisco, after guiding the Dons to their first NCAA berth in 23 years.
Golden, 36, is cut from the cloth of a new wave of analytics-based hoops coaches, but there's more to him than that. He was a standout player at Saint Mary's — one of the best 3-point shooters in West Coast Conference history — during the same era that Billy Donovan's teams were winning back-to-back national championships. Golden has made it point to reach out to former Florida players (from all eras) and invite them to reconnect with the program.
The new UF staff got a late start on the recruiting trail, but fared well in the transfer portal and, perhaps best of all, convinced the team's two best players, two-time All-SEC fifth-year big man Colin Castleton and sophomore guard Kowacie Reeves, to bypass their respective options of turning pro or exploring his transfer opportunities.
Under White, the Gators were practically annual participants in the NCAA Tournament, but the offense too often grew stagnant and was oftentimes marred by poor shooting. Example: At 30.3 percent, the '21-22 team was the program's all-time worst 3-point shooting team (as in worst in the 35-year history of the 3-point line). Golden, armed with a plan and oozing confidence, hopes to change that and will do so with a lot of changes on the roster.
The most significant change will be the new guy on the sidelines.
3) CENTER OF THE TRACK & FIELD UNIVERSE
Sophomore Joseph Fahnbulleh screams to the heavens after winning the 200 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
When the next-to-last event of the NCAA Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships convened, UF sophomore Parker Valby stepped into her lane knowing she needed to finish eighth or better to clinch a national title for her team; the program's first in outdoors competition. Valby's time of 15:20:10 was good enough for second — and good enough for a second Florida national championship in as many days; and for the UF women, good enough for a second to pile onto the won they claimed back in March at the NCAA indoors meet.
Before 2022, Coach Mike Holloway's juggernaut program had last won a NCAA title in 2019, but the Gators made up for lost time by claiming three of the four team championships, with his women sweeping both the indoor and outdoor meets, and the men, in something of a surprise, capturing the outdoor championship. In doing so, Florida became the first program since Oregon in 2015 to hoist both the men's and women's hardware at the outdoor meet.
For those keeping score at home, that would be 12 NCAA championships for the "Mouse" that roars (Holloway), with all of them coming since 2010.
Repeat: Twelve.
"Nobody ever blinked. We kept fighting and kept fighting."
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) June 12, 2022
At the women's indoors at Birmingham, Ala., UF became just the second team in the meet's history to claim five individual titles, starting with Anna Hall capturing the pentathlon and thus laying claim to the nation's best female athlete, and with Jasmine Moore winning the long jump (21-6.75). On Day 2, Talitha Diggs won the 400 meters, Grace Stark won 60-meter hurdles in record time (7.78) and Moore the triple jump (47-9.75).
It was Florida's first women's NCAA title since 1992, and it served as a prelude to bigger things.
At the outdoor championships in Eugene, Ore., the Gator men got an electrifying performance from sophomore Joseph Fahnbulleh, who laid unquestioned claim to the title as fastest man in college by winning both the 100 meters (10.0) and 200 (19.83). UF tallied big points with a runner-up finish in the 400x100 relay (38.52), with Dedrick Vanover, Tyler Davis, PJ Austin and Fahnbulleh passing the baton, and winning the 4x400 behind Jacory Patterson, Ryan Willie, Jacob Miley and Champion Allison, who was also second in the open 400. The final standings weren't close, with UF out-pointing Texas 54-38.
The men celebrated their title on a Friday night. The women followed 24 hours later.
Again, it was was Hall running away with the heptathlon (with teammate Sterling Lester placing fifth), clinching the championship in a matter of 20 minutes after placing second in the 400 hurdles. Long jump winner Moore added the triple jump win (with Natricia Hooper finishing sixth). Diggs won the open 400, paving the way for Valby to cruise to her runner-up race in the 5,000. The night's final event was the 4x400 relay, during which UF placed ninth. UF was so far ahead by the gun of that race that the Gators could've DQed and broken into their team chomp a little early.
Absolutely remarkable. Utterly dominant.
4) WHAT A REBOUND!
In her first season interim-turned-head coach Kelly Rae Finley led UF to 21 victories and the program's first NCAA Tournament berth in six years.
It was right around the start of the Summer "B" semester last year that UF women's basketball coach Cameron Newbauer left the program. Stricklin didn't have to look too far from home to find the next person to lead the program. Interim coach Kelly Rae Finley, who was promoted to the post of associate head coach following Newbauer's exit, quickly put her stamp on the culture.
So, how'd that go?
In Newbauer's four seasons, the Gators combined to go 46-71, including 15-47 in SEC play. The most games they won in any season was 15. The most SEC victories was six, and they did that once (the other three seasons netted just three wins each).
Under Finley, UF didn't get off to the best start. The Gators stood 10-5 overall and 0-2 in the league when they went to Texas A&M on Jan. 9. They also were without their best player, All-SEC forward Lavender Briggs, who was injured and eventually quit the team midseason. Florida won 10 of its next 11, with victories over four ranked teams, including an 84-59 abject annihilation of seventh-ranked Tennessee that marked the worst loss ever for the vaunted Lady Vols against an unranked team. UF went on to garner its first 20-win season and NCAA Tournament berth since 2016, though the Gators' postseason was kneecapped by a season-ending knee injury to first-team All-SEC point guard Kiara Smith during their SEC Tournament opener. Without Smith, UF lost its final two games, including a first-round NCAA Tournament date against UCF.
Florida finished 21-11, with a 10-6 mark in SEC play, as Finley was named USA Today Sports Network SEC Coach of the Year and also the Spalding Maggie Dixon National Rookie Coach of the Year. Stricklin removed the "interim" tag from Finley near season's end.
Few saw any of it coming. Now Florida women's basketball has promise and expectations it has not had in years.
5) BEST IN SEC, SECOND BEST IN THE COUNTRY
Freshman Leanne Wong won the balance beam at the SEC Championships.
Jenny Rowlandand her women were so close to making it one of the greatest seasons in program history. One of the best in college gymnastics history.
Florida rolled through the SEC season with an unbeaten mark — a 198.575 tie at Auburn being the lone blemish, if you want to call it that — and a slew of instances of perfection along the way. How 'bout 17 perfect 10s during the season, 12 of them by three-time SEC Gymnast of the Year Trinity Thomas. Then came a postseason of highs that fell one high shy.
The Gators went to the conference championships in Birmingham and used highest total (198.20) in 26 SEC meets to complete a sweep of regular-season and Championship meet titles. How good were the Gators that night? A UF gymnast won four individual events, with Thomas, the senior, capturing the vault (9.975), floor exercise (9.975) and all-around (39.825), and freshman Leanne Wong winning on balance beam (9.975).
The performance sent the Gators to the NCAA Championships at Fort Worth, Texas, as the No. 2 overall seed and, in the end, a uncharacteristic sub-par showing on vault to start the afternoon proved the difference, as Florida finished second to Oklahoma. The Sooners checked in with 198.20 points to the Gators' 198.0875, with the 0.1125 margin the seventh-smallest in the history of the NCAA meet.
It's become a rite of passage. If it's February, the men's swimming team is celebrating a SEC championship. If that sounds arrogant or disrespectful to the rest of the league, that's not the intent.
The Gators have been that dominant for that long. That's just a fact.
On Feb. 15, Coach Anthony Nesty's squad took the plunge in Knoxville and over the next four days boat-raced the conference competition en route to a 10th straight SEC title. The final tally showed Florida with 1,414 points, which was nearly 500 more than co-runners-up Tennessee and Alabama. The Gators surged in front on the second of the five-day event, keyed by a record-setting victory in the 200 freestyle relay, courtesy of Adam Chaney, Eric Friese, 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Kieran Smith and Macguire McDuff (1:16.49). They poured it on from there, winning four individual events and five relays, plus another two second-place finishes and four more individual thirds, along with a relay.
And here's the rub: The Gators did it with 10-time All American and two-time Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke, 12-time All American Will Davis and eight-time All American Dillon Hillis back home after testing positive for COVID.
How much more one-sided could it been? Check back in 2023.
After becoming just the seventh program (any sport) in SEC history to win at least 10 consecutive league titles, the Gators went to the NCAA Championships and finished third.
7) SEC PERFECTION
Fifth-year senior Duarte Vale (left) and freshman Nate Bonetto celebrate a big doubles victory against Tennessee at the SEC Tournament.
It wasn't the magical season that 2021 was, but it was pretty darn special.
Bryan Shelton and his UF men's tennis team, ranked second in the nation, steamrolled through both phases of SEC play during 2022, going 12-0 in regular-season play and sweeping through the conference tournament, eventually defeating No. 10 Kentucky 4-0 in the SEC final.
The result gave the Gators, led by sophomore Ben Shelton, senior Sam Riffice and a veteran-laden lineup that cleaned up in doubles play, a clean sweep of the league. That was a better than what UF achieved against the SEC last season, when the Gators won the regular season, but lost to rival Tennessee in tournament play. Of course, that UF team bounced back by righting itself in the NCAA Tournament and winning the first national championship in program history.
Florida '22 didn't hit its sky-high goal of repeating as NCAA champs — the Gators were eliminated by eventual champion Virginia in the quarterfinals — but what a run it's been for Shelton and a program he has built from a once middling conference team into a national powerhouse.
Despite the disappointing finish to the team season, the Gators did some serious atoning for that shortfall in the NCAA singles competition, but consider that a tease for an appearance in the Top 10 individual moments, coming later this week.
The Gators softball Twitter account has the second-most followers of any UF sport. The fans are loyal and passionate. There's also that vocal minority — like with all the other sports — that too often thrives on negativity.
That faction reared itself through the first, oh, three-quarters of the season. When the Gators went to LSU for their final SEC series of the regular season, Florida's record was 11-11 in league play and the team was in a tie for fifth place; not exactly the standard Coach Tim Walton's program has played to during his 17 seasons.
Then Florida got hot.
Walton credited an extra-inning homer by senior Cheyenne Lindsey as a catalyst for the turnaround. Two weeks later, UF got fifth-year senior second baseman Hannah Adams, out for 13 games with a a hand injury, back in the lineup and the offense took off. The Gators batted a robust .405 during their first seven NCAA Tournament games and paired that with some great pitching from fifth-year senior Natalie Lugo and the usual lights-out defense to reach the Women's College World Series for the 11th time in the last 14 tournaments. And they did it by rolling through third-seeded Virginia Tech in the Blacksburg Super Regional, including a 12-0 mercy-rule win in the decisive Game 3, the first time the program ever took the Super route (and rout) to the WCWS.
In Oklahoma City, UF won the first game against Oregon State, then ran into a couple buzz-saw pitchers in losses to semifinals Oklahoma State and UCLA, but Walton's women played their final game in OKC, which is the goal of every program in the country.
9) SOCCER REBOOT
Samantha Bohan was hired away from Division II Embry-Riddle to become the third UF soccer coach in as many seasons.
Just one year after hiring Tony Amato to replace Becky Burleigh, the charter coach of the women's soccer program, UF parted ways with Amato citing a disconnect between the new coach and his players. In other words, the Gators had 26 years of Burleigh (with 14 SEC titles and one national championship) and one under her replacement before going coach hunting again.
The search didn't go too far with the hiring of Samantha Bohan, by way of Division II Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, Fla. Her name actually came up in the 2021 search.
Bohon, 46, is a native Floridian and former All American at Duke, with time served training with some of the all-time greats of U.S. Soccer, followed by early 2000 ties to the SEC as an assistant at Tennessee. She went 167-76-16 over 14 seasons at ERAU, where she also guided the program from NAIA classification to D-II. Along the way, she won the Sunshine State Conference tournament in 2019 and — after the pandemic canceled the 2020 season — both the SSC regular-season and tournament titles on the way to a second straight NCAA berth.
UF's third soccer coach in three years will inherit a team that finished 4-12-4 under Amato, the worst record in program history. That season followed the 6-8-3 from Burleigh's last season and accounts for the Gators' only two back-to-back losing campaigns.
So Bohan has some work to do on the roster-building front, but she's been a builder before. Just down the turnpike, in fact.
10) LAX ROLLS THROUGH AAC
AAC Freshman of the Year Emma LoPinto (14).
UF furthered its league dominance on the lacrosse pitch by sweeping to an unbeaten record in American Athletic Conference regular-season play (again), then to the title in the AAC Tournament (also again).
Make that 59 straight wins in conference play, including 45 regular-season victories for Coach Amanda O'Leary and her troops. The Gators' last loss against a league opponent came on April 18, 2015. They have seven consecutive conference tournament crowns.
Understandably, the Gators were the big winners in AAC postseason all-star honors with Danielle Pavinelli, with her 73 goals and 99 points, named Attacker of the Year, Emma Wightman the Defender of the Year, Sarah Reznick Goalkeeper of the Year and Emma LoPinto the Freshman of the Year.
Florida's season eventually ended with an 18-5 NCAA quarterfinal loss at second-ranked Maryland.
* Coming Thursday: Year in Review, Part II (Top Individual Moments)
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