University of Florida Athletic Association
 | |
| Established | 1929 |
|---|---|
| Director | Scott Stricklin |
| Location | Gainesville, Florida, USA |
| Website | Official website |
The University Athletic Association, Inc. (UAA) is a non-profit corporation that is responsible for maintaining the Florida Gators intercollegiate sports program of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The UAA is run by a board of directors led by the University of Florida's athletic director. The athletic director also acts as the UAA's chief financial officer and reports directly to the president of the university.[1][2]
The athletic association was originally incorporated in 1929 with impetus from university president John J. Tigert to oversee the construction of Florida Field. Since then, its mission has grown to include operating and improving all of the school's athletic programs and facilities. For the 2014-15 academic year, the UAA has an annual operating budget of $103.3 million which is funded entirely through its own revenues with additional support from Gator Boosters, Inc., the fundraising arm of the university's athletic department. The UAA does not depend on the University of Florida's state funding for financial support, and has in fact contributed $79 million to the school's academic programs since 1990.[3]
Current varsity sports
The UAA currently fields Florida Gators teams in nine men's sports and twelve women's sports:
Men's sports
Women's sports
The Gators men's and women's track and field teams are counted twice in the total number of sports teams because Florida's track and field athletes compete in the separate indoor and outdoor track and field seasons sanctioned by the NCAA.
Athletic directors
Since 1917, the following fourteen men have served as the athletic director of the University of Florida's intercollegiate sports program:
- Alfred L. Buser (1917–20)*
- William G. Kline (1920–23)*
- James L. White (1923–25)
- Everett M. Yon (1925–28)
- Charlie Bachman (1928–30)*
- Edgar C. Jones (1930–36)
- Josh Cody (1936–39)*
- Tom Lieb (1940–45)*
- Raymond Wolf (1946–49)*
- Bob Woodruff (1950–59)*
- Ray Graves (1960–79)*
- Bill Carr (1979–86)
- Bill Arnsparger (1986–92)
- Jeremy Foley (1992–2016)
- Scott Stricklin (2016- )
* indicates also served as Florida's head football coach
Nine of the University of Florida's fifteen athletic directors also served as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Some athletic directors coached other sports - James White was the head coach of the Florida Gators men's basketball and baseball teams, and Edgar Jones was the head coach of the Gators men's golf team. This was once a common arrangement in many American universities, especially in the first half of the 20th century, when athletic departments tended to have much smaller budgets and programs. Everett Yon, Edgar Jones and Bill Carr were former Gators athletes. While Bill Arnsparger did not coach while at Florida, he was the head coach of the LSU Tigers football team before coming to Gainesville, and he returned to coaching after he left.
Florida has not had one person simultaneously serving as athletic director and a coach since 1970, when Ray Graves resigned as Florida's football coach but remained on as the school's athletic director, a post he had already held for ten years. Jeremy Foley, who spent his entire working career with Florida's athletic association, was the first Florida AD to have never previously served as a coach or played a sport at the school. Foley retired in 2016, and Scott Stricklin, his replacement, had also never coached a college varsity sports team.
See also
References
- ↑ Hobart & William Smith Colleges: Alumni Biographies-Jeremy Foley '74
- ↑ http://www.uaa.ufl.edu
- ↑ University Athletic Association, 2014–2015 Operating Budget Executive Summary. Retrieved September 4, 2014.