In this edition of the Alligator Awards, we debate which coach was the best of the 2016-17 season. Sports writers Mari Faiello, Andrew Huang and Morgan McMullen join alligatorSports editors Dylan Dixon and Jake Dreilinger in a roundtable discussion to debate the five nominees. Debates will go in alphabetical order by the writer’s last name.
Dixon: Glaser made women’s golf relevant again
A lot of you probably haven’t heard of Emily Glaser before. And that’s ok. Allow me to enlighten you.
Glaser led the Florida women’s golf team to new heights this year, helping it win its first SEC championship since 2008 and guiding it to a top-eight finish in the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2006.
Under her direction, the Gators also accrued five team wins and collected eight individual tournament titles, one of their best all-around showings in a season in recent program history.
The group’s accomplishments were good enough to earn her both the SEC Coach of the Year award and the East Region Coach of the Year award.
And why was she such a good coach in 2016-17? She instilled confidence in her players, something that’s been lacking in recent seasons.
“I just think we actually believed we would win this year,” Karolina Vlckova said in a release after Florida won the SEC championship. “And it made a difference.”
Let’s face it, this team totally overachieved and did more than anyone ever expected it would this spring.
The Gators hadn’t won a conference title in almost 10 years and never even came close to reaching match play in the NCAA Championships. Even though she wasn’t able to lead her team to a national title like Roland Thornqvist or Mike Holloway or Kevin O’Sullivan did, Glaser did get her program much further than anyone thought she would. And isn’t that the ultimate goal of a coach, to get the best performance possible out of your players? In my mind, there wasn’t a coach who did that better in 2016-17 than Glaser.
Dreilinger: Thornqvist led his team to national prominence
When you’re talking about some of the all-time great coaches in Florida athletics history, current women’s tennis coach Roland Thornqvist is usually in that discussion.
The season his team had this year makes his argument even stronger.
On top of winning the national title this season, the Gators never dropped from the No. 1 spot in the ITA rankings, holding on despite taking losses from Georgia once and Vanderbilt twice.
Florida also went 29-3, its best record since going 27-1 in 2012. That season, UF won the national title as well.
But what makes this season so amazing, and gives Thornqvist a lot of credibility as a coach, is the stats that showed just how dominant the Gators were.
The importance of the doubles point was something Thornqvist stressed all season long.
Florida won the doubles point in 27 of its 32 matches this season, and in matches where it won the doubles point, it went 26-1.
What made the Gators such a threat and showed how good Thornqvist is as a coach was their ability to put away their opponents. The Gators outscored their opponents 131-35 and were able to make their presence felt on the court.
Thornqvist even had a player reach the finals in the NCAA Individual Singles Tournament. Belinda Woolcock, who played singles matches for 11 consecutive days, finished runner-up to Michigan’s Brienne Minor.
Thornqvist should be considered one of the greatest coaches to grace the University of Florida, and his track record backs it up. But with the season his team had this year, it’s hard not to call him the best coach this year as well.
Faiello: Mike Holloway coached UF to gold
It always amazes me how coaches can take top Division I athletes and somehow make them even better than they were before. Mike Holloway, head coach for the men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams, has trained these athletes to compete at the highest level and achieve nothing but greatness.
This season, Florida took home their seventh NCAA Outdoor Championship title for the men’s program from Hayward Field in early June. Holloway has coached the Gators to back-to-back championships in addition to having four individual athletes secure their own titles.
Capturing the championship has propelled the program to new levels of competitiveness. This title marks Florida’s 19th top-two finish in 30 NCAA Championship meets under Holloway. No other program has more than nine top-two finishes since 2003.
Holloway is also noted as the seventh head coach to win seven men’s NCAA Championships in Division I history.
Following a successful weekend at the USATF Outdoor Championships, 14 Gators (both current and alumni) qualified to compete in the IAAF World Championships in London this August. Three Gators also qualified for spots on Team USA after competing well at the meet.
These recent successes add on to Holloway’s coaching legacy. Under coach Holloway, the Gators track and field program has 56 individual national champions, 147 SEC champions and 579 All-American honors. Holloway also had the honor of being named the USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Mike Holloway is one of the best coaches Florida has ever seen. His athletic career before he started coaching speaks for itself which is why his guidance and mentorship is a crucial part of the program’s success.
Huang: White surpassed expectations
Twenty wins is usually considered good for a college basketball team. In the Gators’ first 75 years on the court, Florida faithful saw this happen five times.
Enter Billy Donovan, the man, myth and legend who engineered 16 straight 20-win seasons in Gainesville.
Donovan also won back-to-back championships, reached the Final Four in 2000, 2006, 2007 and 2014, and has a 235-game lead on the next most-winningest coach in school history.
Donovan built the Florida basketball program from the ground up.
Many expected Mike White to struggle to fill those shoes after Donovan moved on to the NBA following 19 seasons at UF. But cool, calm and collected as always, White laced them up and hit the ground running.
Through two seasons with the Gators, White has far surpassed Donovan’s accomplishments to that point in his Florida career. In his inaugural 2015-16 season, White led the team to a 21-15 record, reaching the NIT quarterfinals.
In 2016-17, he exceeded expectations by a mile, finishing 27-9 and reaching the Elite Eight. Keep in mind that just one player on last year’s roster, Kasey Hill, played for Donovan’s 36-3, 2014 Final Four squad.
While there were still holdovers from Donovan’s time, we owe White credit for player development. Budding star KeVaughn Allen has come to play through his first two seasons with White as his coach.
White gave Gator nation a peace of mind, showing that he is the guy for the job. Twenty-seven wins with a deep run in the NCAA Tournament doesn’t just happen.
This season, he earned the trust of his locker room, a contract extension and my vote for UF Coach of the Year.
McMullen: O’Sullivan’s efforts worth the wait
Holy cow, what a game. What a series. What a postseason.
If Kevin O’Sullivan didn’t earn every penny of his gargantuan $1.25 million salary with bold moves and genius coaching, then I might as well quit my job at the Alligator right now.
Good thing he did.
Winning the first national championship in team history is no small feat. Winning a national championship against a team that had never lost a College World Series Championship in its previous six trips to the finals is the stuff of legends.
The chutzpah of O’Sullivan to insert presumed Game 3 starter Jackson Kowar in the top of the eighth inning while clinging to a one-run lead was impressive. The foresight to start his best pitcher to clinch the semifinals series against TCU, knowing that if his team advanced, O’Sullivan would not be able to use his ace again was risky. But the man knows how to manage a team.
Good thing he does.
How about starting the No. 22-ranked third baseman prospect, a freshman, at pitcher for the clinching game against LSU?
After a sweep suffered at the hands of Auburn in the middle of March, UF sat at 13-8. It was unclear if the offense would get itself turned around in time for the postseason, or if the Gators would even get there at all.
Following the sweep, Florida would only lose consecutive games one more time.
O’Sullivan utilized patience and boldness, veteran savvy and rookie-like risk-taking, to get his Gators to the promised land.
He deserves to be the best coach for the Alligator awards.
Good thing he will.
Who do you think was the best coach of the 2016-17 season? Vote online at alligator.org/sports.
Roland Thornqvist looks on during UF’s 4-2 win against Oklahoma State on Feb. 18, 2017, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
