Latest news with #ScottStricklin
New York Times
02-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Florida baseball coach, athletic director apologize for coach's outburst
Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan and athletic director Scott Stricklin apologized Monday for an expletive-filled tirade O'Sullivan directed at NCAA Tournament site officials the day before because he was unhappy that the start of the Gators' regional game against East Carolina was moved back an hour. Advertisement 'I did not represent the University of Florida to the appropriate standard yesterday and take full responsibility for that, and promise to learn from this experience and be better moving forward,' O'Sullivan said in a statement. He apologized to the site representatives, Rick French and Mark Scalf, as well as Coastal Carolina's associate athletic director Bryan Stiles. The regional was played at the home field of Coastal Carolina and a video showing O'Sullivan yelling at officials circulated on social media on Sunday. Later in the day, Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall used his postgame press conference — after his team beat East Carolina to advance to the Super Regionals — to address the situation. He did not name O'Sullivan but said another coach had 'disrespected' the school's associate AD, the field crew at the stadium and tournament officials. 'This is a national championship coach who thinks he can come in here and try to bully people around,' Schnall said. The start time of the game was reportedly moved because East Carolina's game on Saturday night ended late. 'This afternoon, I met with Kevin O'Sullivan and told him his actions prior to yesterday's NCAA Tournament game fell well short of our expectations of how Gators treat people,' Stricklin said in a statement. He added, 'On behalf of Florida athletics, I want to personally apologize for everyone impacted, — including NCAA representatives, Coastal Carolina and their staff, East Carolina and their team, as well as Gator Nation.'
Fox News
06-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Florida raises Todd Golden's salary to $6M annually with extension after national title
Florida basketball coach Todd Golden has signed a contract extension that raises his annual salary to $6 million, a lucrative bump nearly a month after the Gators won the national championship. Golden inked a six-year, $40.5 million extension Tuesday, adding a year to his current deal and putting him under contract through the 2030-31 season. He signed a two-year extension in March 2024 that increased his average salary to $4.1 million annually. His latest raise is a significant commitment from Florida and puts Golden nearly on par with football coach Billy Napier, who is scheduled to make $7.4 million in 2025. Golden's deal pays $6 million a year (beginning April 16, 2025), with a $300,000 pay hike every year after. "Todd has done an incredible job getting Florida men's basketball back where it belongs," athletic director Scott Stricklin said in a statement. "We believed in his vision, his competitive nature and his modern approach to the game back in 2022, and he has validated that belief in a relatively short time and helped create memories of a lifetime for another generation of Gator fans." The new money makes the 39-year-old Golden the second-highest-paid basketball coach in the Southeastern Conference behind Arkansas' John Calipari, who earns $8 million annually. Golden, once an assistant under Bruce Pearl at Auburn who got his first head coaching job at San Francisco in 2019, previously ranked 12th out of 16 coaches in the league. He now jumps to fifth among the seven active coaches with national titles, behind Bill Self of Kansas, Calipari, UConn's Dan Hurley and Michigan State's Tom Izzo. "As we've shown during our time in Gainesville, the University of Florida is an institution that has the resources, support, and people in place to compete and win national championships," Golden said in a statement. Golden's new deal is nearly fully guaranteed. Florida would owe him 85% of the remaining value if the school fired him without cause at any point. Golden's buyout to leave Gainesville starts at $16 million next season and drops annually: $11 million in 2026-27; $4 million in 2027-28; $3 million in 2028-29; $2 million in 2029-30; and $1 million in 2030-31. However, Golden can leave for the NBA at a much lower price. His NBA buyout begins at $3 million next season and drops to $2 million (2026-28) and then $1 million in 2028-29. Included in Golden's annual compensation is a $500,000 signing bonus, a $500,000 annual longevity incentive and a $60,000 annual expense account. In addition to that, he gets $70,000 annually in travel allowance for using the university athletic association's plane and other fringe benefits valued at $62,000. He would get a $100,000 bonus for winning the SEC regular-season championship, a $50,000 bonus for winning the SEC Tournament, a $100,000 bonus for making the NCAA Tournament and a $50,000 bonus for every NCAA Tournament victory. With Golden at the helm for his third season in Gainesville, the Gators finished 36-4 and beat Houston to clinch the program's third national title. They won their final 12 games, including four in the NCAA Tournament in come-from-behind fashion. Florida's style of play under Golden has drawn rave reviews, leading to sellouts in eight of the team's last 10 home games. Florida averaged 84.8 points a game this season after setting the program record (85.6) during the 2023-24 campaign. Golden became the third coach this century to win a national title within his first three seasons on the job, joining North Carolina's Roy Williams (2005) and UConn's Kevin Ollie (2014). Williams and Ollie accomplished the feat in their second seasons. Golden has a modest rebuild on his hands now. Leading scorer Walter Clayton, the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, is headed to the NBA along with fellow guards Alijah Martin and Will Richard. Forwards Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu are going through the NBA draft process with the potential to stay in school and return for next season. Backup guard Denzel Aberdeen (Kentucky) and backup forward Sam Alexis (Indiana) transferred, and assistant coaches Kevin Hovde (Columbia) and John Andrzejek (Campbell) took head coaching jobs. Golden signed two guards out of the transfer portal — Princeton's Xaivian Lee and Ohio's AJ Brown — and have swingman CJ Ingram and guard Alex Lloyd joining the team as incoming freshmen. Reporting by The Associated Press.
Reuters
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Florida's Todd Golden gets lucrative contract extension
May 6 - Florida is rewarding national championship-winning coach Todd Golden with a contract extension that will pay him $40.5 million through the 2030-31 season. Golden, 39, became the youngest coach to win a title since 37-year-old Jim Valvano when the Gators beat Houston 65-63 in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament on April 7. In three seasons in Florida, he has a 76-33 record, including 36-4 in 2024-25. "Todd has done an incredible job getting Florida men's basketball back where it belongs," athletic director Scott Stricklin said. "We believed in his vision, his competitive nature and his modern approach to the game back in 2022, and he has validated that belief in a relatively short time and helped create memories of a lifetime for another generation of Gator fans." The Gators won the program's third national title in their sixth trip top the Final Four. The other two championships came under Billy Donovan in 2006 and 2007. "The University of Florida is an institution that has the resources, support, and people in place to compete and win national championships," Golden said. "I am so appreciative of each and every player and staff member who have been critical to the success we've experienced here."
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Will hoops team finally lead UF athletics out of wilderness?
The Florida Gators, it seems, have been trudging through the desert of irrelevance for years. Each step has been a battle — boots sinking into the endless sand, muscles burning, throat parched and skin scorched. You can almost envision a beleaguered UF athletic director Scott Stricklin squinting into the relentless sun, scanning the horizon in search of something — anything — that could be considered shelter or shade. Advertisement But wait! What's that up ahead? An oasis? A glimmer of salvation? A path out of this barren wasteland of futility and back to UF's dominant days of athletic superiority? Granted, maybe I'm being too melodramatic here and perhaps I'm overreacting, but is it so far-fetched to think this amazing UF basketball team has a chance to lead the school's athletic program out of the wilderness and back to relevance? The top-seeded Gators, who take on No. 4-seeded Maryland Thursday night in the Sweet 16, are the trendy pick to win the national championship. And if, by chance, that were to happen, it could well be the genesis of a Gator athletic awakening. Advertisement It seems almost unfathomable to many longtime fans that it's been 17 years — almost an entire generation — since Gator Nation has experienced a national championship in the two sports that matter most — football and men's basketball. But with Todd Golden's basketball program playing as well — if not better — than any team in the country and Billy Napier's football team finally showing signs of life, maybe the Gators are finally emerging from their years-long darkness retreat. While much is being made about a football-centric conference like the SEC suddenly becoming the most powerful basketball conference in history, let us not forget that it was the Gators themselves who showed their league brethren that you could, in fact, be dominant in both sports. Jeremy Foley, the legendary former athletic director at UF, made two of the greatest hires in modern college sports history when he plucked an unproven 29-year-old coach from Marshall named Billy Donovan to lead his basketball program and then outmaneuvered Notre Dame to hire football coach Urban Meyer. Those two men ushered in the golden era of Gator athletics when UF simultaneously held national championships in football and basketball early in 2007 — the only school in modern history to accomplish such a feat. A few months later, Donovan's Gators became the first school since the great Grant Hill-Christian Laettner Duke teams of 1992-93 to win back-to-back national championships. Meanwhile, Meyer's Gators won two national championships in a three-year period from 2006 to 2008. Advertisement Gator Nation ruled the sports world back then with rock-star coaches and superstar players such as Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin in football and Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer in basketball. That famous UF rallying cry — 'It's great to be a Florida Gator!' — wasn't just a cheer anymore; it was a reality that every other fan base in the country envied. But then Meyer burned out and took a brief hiatus before ending up at Ohio State while Donovan left UF a few years later to make the jump to the NBA. And, sadly, the Gators slowly drifted downstream on the river of mediocrity. Granted, UF has always had one of the top overall athletic programs in the country and continued to excel in other sports — baseball, softball, golf, track, swimming and gymnastics, to name a few — but it's no secret that football and basketball define a program's national identity. A cavalcade of football coaches — Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen — each had their moments but ultimately failed to recapture the Meyer magic. Tasked with following in Donovan's footsteps, Mike White had a respectable tenure at Florida, but he was battered and beaten by fan expectations. Unable to meet the impossibly lofty standard Donovan left behind, White ultimately departed for Georgia. Advertisement Now, at long last, there is literally and figuratively a 'Golden' opportunity for the Gators to emerge from the darkness and into the national spotlight once again. The jury is still out on the football program, but Napier's team ended last season on a four-game winning streak and have one of hottest young quarterbacks in the country — DJ Lagway — returning this season. Golden's basketball team has stormed through the SEC and NCAA tournaments, proving itself as a legitimate championship contender. In his third season, Golden has implemented a brand of basketball that is both exciting and effective: fast-paced but disciplined. The Gators have the talent, the depth and swagger to win it all. Of course, the journey is far from over and there is still a lot of work left to be done. But at least there is hope. Advertisement At least there is a pathway out. Is that a rainbow up ahead? Is the relentless trudge through the desert almost over? Will the Gators soon growl once again? Email me at mbianchi@ Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and
New York Times
20-02-2025
- Business
- New York Times
SEC football moving closer to 9-game conference schedule, but the saga continues
NEW ORLEANS — Once again, the SEC football is moving closer to a nine-game conference schedule. And once again, even with momentum building, it's not a done deal. The conference has seemed close to this move for years, only for enough opposition within the league to stop it, either for financial or competitive reasons. This time, another factor may finally push it over the finish line: an alliance with the Big Ten. Advertisement The two conference commissioners and their athletic directors wrapped up a second round of meetings here on Wednesday. A possible scheduling agreement was not discussed, several people said. But the conferences did discuss the possibility of four guaranteed spots for each conference in an expanded College Football Playoff, and if that happens, there's a good chance the SEC finally will go to nine games. But no decisions were made at these meetings, and a decision could take several months, according to Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin. 'It's all connected,' Stricklin said, citing the need to know what the CFP format will be. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on Wednesday 'there's a lot of interest' in going to nine games and indicated that some reluctant to make the move have changed their mind. 'I think people change. Positions change,' Sankey said. 'There's been a lot of phone calls in advance of the meeting: 'What are you thinking? What do we need to look at? Are there different ways to form this?'' SEC presidents have said for several years that they need more money from ESPN to add a ninth conference game. When Oklahoma and Texas joined the league, the contract called for a pro-rata increase in what ESPN paid the SEC, so it went to about $811 million per year. ESPN has resisted pleas to increase that amount, citing cost-cutting at Disney, among other factors. There are a few reasons ESPN may now be ready to play ball. The situation with the ACC appears to be stabilizing, so there's some certainty there. Then there's the CFP contract, which ESPN agreed to in March 2024, going through the 2031 season. Perhaps more importantly, there are the ratings from the 2024 season, the first under the SEC's non-division format. The SEC had six of the 10 highest-rated non-Playoff games, and 15 of the 21 highest-rated games involved at least one SEC team, per SportsMediaWatch. Advertisement If the SEC goes to a nine-game schedule, certain rivalries will continue to be played every year: Alabama-Tennessee (sixth-highest rated non-Playoff game), Texas-Texas A&M (10th highest-watched non-Playoff game) and Georgia-Auburn. If the SEC stays with eight games, its format would result in those rivalry games only being twice every four years. The SEC made sure to include those games, and a few other marquee matchups, in the 2024-25 temporary format, almost as a way of showing ESPN what it would be missing. GO DEEPER SEC, Big Ten discussing changes to championship weekend But the new format caused some newfound reluctance to go to nine games: Texas was the only team to go 7-1 in conference play, two others suffered two losses, and five had three losses. Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina just missed the Playoff. That's why four guaranteed bids for the CFP could be the final push toward nine games, alleviating concerns about hurting teams' bids. Sankey never has publicly confirmed that he favors going to nine games, instead presenting himself as guiding the conversation. That conversation has taken years and was the main story at SEC spring meetings several years, each time the conference holding off on the decision, not going to nine games but only doing temporary eight-game formats. The saga may finally be nearing an end. Then again, that has been assumed before. GO DEEPER Big Ten, SEC to push for CFP to be seeded entirely by final rankings 'We've not made a decision, and we're coming up on four years,' Sankey said. 'And the reality, and I've said this to you that that conversation began in 2018 it was tied to the move from divisions. Can you rotate people through? So it was a pre-expansion conversation, but the three or four years really is a post-expansion dialog. And we made decisions for '24 and '25, (while) '26 and beyond remains an agenda item for us.' Asked when they need to make a decision, Sankey smiled. 'Right before we send out the press release,' he said.
