Fans love to gloat. They love to boast.
You can hear it bellowing through the bowels of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium after a win on Saturdays in fall.
“It’s great to be a Florida Gator,” rings throughout the corridors, as fans enforce their ever-apparent admiration for the Orange and Blue.
Well, Gator Nation, this was your year. Let it out.
The University of Florida won the inaugural Capital One Cup for overall achievement in men’s athletics, while the school’s women’s programs took home fourth. Florida also finished fourth overall in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup.
What that means is the Gators excelled at nearly every single sport this athletic season.
Led by Lauren Embree’s inspiring performance that won a national championship for the women’s tennis team, Florida has been in the discussion for seemingly every national title.
The men’s basketball team overcame the odds and plenty of doubters to compete during March Madness and finish in the top 10. Chandler Parsons — yes the same kid who came to UF as a scrawny, pimply, gangly unknown accompaniment to star Nick Calathes (if you don’t believe me, check out his bio photo in our graphic on page 16) — won the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year award.
Coach Mike Holloway led the men’s track and field team to an incredible season including an indoor championship and multiple school records. Jeff Demps captured an individual national title and Christian Taylor, as you’re reading about today, excelled at nearly everything he attempted.
Coach Tim Walton and his senior-laden softball team was a good umpire away from a chance at the program’s first national title, finishing second to Dallas Escobedo and Arizona State.
Preston Tucker wouldn’t let a trying season end for the top-ranked baseball team, bailing UF out with clutch hit after clutch hit on the way to a runner-up finish in Omaha, Neb.
The women’s lacrosse program went toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in the country and made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship in just its second season.
The swimming and diving teams kept up their standard of excellence, as both the men’s and women’s teams finished in the top 10.
Florida’s soccer, women’s golf, gymnastics and volleyball teams all also finished in the top 10 nationally. And the men’s golf was one of the best in the nation before a bad week at NCAAs.
So brush aside that disappointing departing season for Urban Meyer, and tell all your friends just how great it is to be a Florida Gator — unless, of course, you’re a fan of women’s basketball.
