After being introduced as Florida’s new athletics director on Tuesday, Scott Stricklin said he intends to carry out Florida’s athletic facility upgrades as planned.
Florida's proposed “master plan” includes the construction of a new football complex as well as renovations to UF’s baseball and softball stadiums. The plan will cost about $100 million to complete, according to the University Athletic Association.
Florida plans to fund as much as possible through donations, but UF president Kent Fuchs said Tuesday that if enough money isn’t raised, the university will take on debt to complete the project.
“We’re gonna raise a lot of money,” Fuchs said. “We want our generous friends to fund all of it. But if we’re not able to, we’re gonna borrow it. We’re gonna make it happen.”
Stricklin is already familiar with overseeing expensive renovations. At Mississippi State, he led facility upgrades that totalled $140 million and said he incurred debt to make them happen.
He endorsed taking on debt if enough money can’t be raised at Florida as well.
“We want to use our resources to make us better,” Stricklin said. “And if (taking on debt) is an instrument that we can use — that we think we can do that in a way that doesn’t hurt the overall health of the financial picture — I’m not opposed to doing that. We’ve done that in the past.”
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
Scott Stricklin, UF's new athletic director, speaks with UF president Kent Fuchs during a UAA board meeting. Stricklin, who has worked as Mississippi State University's athletic director since 2010, was unanimously approved Tuesday morning.
