After a decorated 24-year tenure as Florida's athletics director, Jeremy Foley retires today. He employed many coaches during his time as head of UF's athletic department, but which hire was his best? Sports writers Ethan Bauer, Jordan McPherson and Patrick Pinak debate.
Ethan Bauer: Urban Meyer, football
The late 2000s were the roarin’ 20’s of Florida athletics, and at the center were three men.
One was Billy Donovan, the men’s basketball coach who won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. Another was Urban Meyer, the football coach who won a title in his second season at Florida before rattling off another one two years later and a Sugar Bowl win the year after that.
And then there was Jeremy Foley, the man who hired them both.
It’s hard to measure the impact these two hires had on a school that, at the time, was lagging behind both in-state and conference rivals in college’s two most popular sports.
But it isn’t too hard to see which one's impact was larger.
Urban Meyer made Florida football great again, restoring and even elevating the Gators from where Steve Spurrier left them. And while Donovan also won a pair of titles, two things make Meyer superior.
First, Urban won the title in his second season. Donovan, meanwhile, took more than 10 years to win his first.
Second, football is just more revered than basketball. For a school to be an athletic powerhouse, it needs to have a good football program.
Just look at schools like Duke and North Carolina for proof. They consistently field some of the nation’s best basketball teams, but neither is particularly dominant in football.
Therefore, when asked to name some of college’s most dominant athletics programs, neither one will come up right away. Which ones will come up right away?
Michigan. Ohio State. Alabama. Texas. And, oh yeah, Florida.
Why? Because these universities have garnered reputations on the football field.
And even though Meyer left Florida unceremoniously to say the least, the impact he had on the program and on the school by restoring UF’s reputation is undeniable. It’s one that’s still being felt today. And it’s one that, like all the others on this list, can be traced back to Jeremy Foley.
It just happens to be the most important one.
Jordan McPherson: Billy Donovan, men’s basketball
Before Jeremy Foley brought Billy Donovan to Gainesville, the UF men’s basketball program was an afterthought to the college basketball world.
The Gators played 77 seasons of college basketball before Billy D took over the program in 1996. They reached the NCAA tournament just five times and earned just one SEC Championship and never eclipsed the 30-win mark.
Then Donovan, a 30-year-old with just three years of head coaching experience, arrived, and what happened over his 19 seasons is history.
Ten SEC Titles (six regular season, four tournament), 14 NCAA Tournament berths, four trips to the Final Four and back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. He had a stretch of 16-straight seasons with at least 20 wins — including three years where UF won more than 30 contests — and became the second-fastest Division I coach to earn 500 career wins, with 467 of those coming during his time at UF.
NBA players such as Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Bradley Beal, Corey Brewer and Chandler Parsons, among a slew of others, came through the program thanks in large part to Billy D.
Donovan took a program skating by with mediocrity and made it a national powerhouse. That’s still evident when one walks into the basketball practice facility today — a year-and-a-half since Donovan left UF to become the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The foyer of the facility contains all the trophies, all the honors, all the accolades from Donovan’s tenure. They’re a reminder of the life he brought to a struggling program. And he had the opportunity to do so because Foley took a risk.
Patrick Pinak: Rhonda Faehn, gymnastics
This list would be a disservice to Jeremy Foley’s career if we didn’t mention his obvious best hire: Rhonda Faehn.
Hired in 2003, Faehn put Florida’s gymnastics program on the map during her 13-year tenure as the team’s head coach.
She led the Gators to their first NCAA championship in their 43-year history in 2013 and sustained that success by taking home the national title in 2014 (along with co-winner Oklahoma) and 2015.
It was Foley who believed in Faehn to transform the program into a national contender when he originally brought her on board.
“Rhonda came in here 13 years ago, sharing our vision that Florida could be a national contender,” Foley said in a release last April. “She went to work and made that vision a reality. And in the last three years, she's taken this program from nationally prominent to national champion. She’s done an absolutely spectacular job.”
While Faehn resigned from the position last year with an all-time record of 347-86-6 to become the senior vice president of USA Gymnastics, her legacy still remains.
Three national championships.
Ten top-five NCAA finishes.
Four conference titles.
What other Foley hire can claim those accolades in a 13-year window?
The answer is none.
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
Becky Burleigh, soccer: 19 NCAA Tournament berths in 21 years, 14 SEC Titles. 1998 national champions
Mike Holloway, track and field: Six combined NCAA titles, nine combined SEC titles
Amanda O’Leary, lacrosse: Six NCAA Tournament berths in seven years, one Final Four appearance
Kevin O’Sullivan, baseball: Nine consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, five College World Series appearances in last seven years
Roland Thornqvist, women’s tennis: Three NCAA championships and 11 SEC regular-season titles in 15 seasons
Gregg Troy, swimming and diving: Three combined national championships, only two combined non-top-10 finishes in 17 seasons.
Tim Walton, softball: Back-to-back national championships, seven Women’s College World Series berths in 10 seasons.
Jeremy Foley shakes hands with Billy Donovan during the Gators' game against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, February 28, 2015, at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, FL / UAA Communications photo by Tim Casey
