Q. One thing everyone says is that you always wanted to do things right. Was it what this program went through in the '80s, or was that just your mindset, that whatever we're going to do we're going to try to do it right?
JEREMY FOLEY: Absolutely. I've said it often. When I was trying to figure out what this business was all about and the problems in the '80s had a huge influence on me. And let me tell you why, just quickly.
When I first got here, all anybody wanted to do was win one Southeastern Conference football championship, just one. In 1984 we won one up in Kentucky. We flew back into Gainesville. And there were 50,000 people in the stadium waiting for us.
There were parades, people lining the streets of Gainesville. And it was an unbelievable night. For those of you that were there, you remember; it was an unbelievable night.
Two, three, four months later the trophy, the championship was taken away from us because the issues we were dealing with. And I can remember back then saying to myself: What was that all about? I have a ring somewhere at my house that I could wear it but it doesn't stand for anything because the championship was vacated.
So we talked a lot about that. And obviously we had additional problems later on in the '80s. I always thought we were a program that had two strikes against us.
I told my staff often: We're not going down the three strike route, the place that it is too important to this institution to run this, to run this right. So it was a constant message. Obviously we have coaches and staff who buy into that.
And that's the key. At the end of the day, there's always another championship, there's always another game, but your integrity is there's nothing worth that. So, again, that's something we talked about time and time again.
Q. With what the revenue producing sports, the two biggest ones, football and basketball, can do for an athletic program and everything, but the emphasis on the Olympic sports, the women's sports, what are those sports and what do success in those sports do for a college campus and a student body and the student athletes involved?
JEREMY FOLEY: Well, I think that one thing we're very proud of I think that the Florida Gator athletic brand is special for a lot of different reasons. But I think for the fact we have success in 21 sports is one of the biggest reasons.
If you're on a college campus, you have to pay attention to all sports. It's been part of our DNA here before I was athletic director. It was just the way it was when Bill Carr was the AD and when Bill Armsparger was the AD, that's the only thing I ever knew, is you've got to pay attention to all sports.
When you're having success at the highest level, I can't tell you the number of people that emailed me after Mouse won last Friday night, when Tim wins back to back, and Rhonda wins back to back to back. It's important. It may not have as much money involved or may not have as many people there, may not get the same headlines.
It's just so important if you're going to do things right and represent an institution like this and be a national brand, you got to be more than a one or two sports program. That's always been our philosophy.
For those of us that work here, it's the energy in what we do. We all love watching football and basketball games. I'll tell you, we don't miss many lacrosse games or soccer games or softball games or baseball games. It's the juice and energy in what we do.
If you're going to do it, might as well do it right and try to win, and that's what we try to do here. Keeping score in all of them. So we're going to try to win.
Q. When you are walking away after 25 years, any regrets at all; it's not about walking away, about your time?
JEREMY FOLEY: Regrets about my time? I got asked that question earlier today. I don't regret anything. I regret that some decisions that you made, and if you're in the chair you're going to make them, they all don't work out. And I regret decisions that didn't work out, because when they don't work out, especially hiring coaches, tremendous turmoil within a program, within a fan base, obviously to the coaches themselves and their families and their staff.
And none of those decisions were made with ill intent. And they were thought through. And they didn't work as I envisioned them to work.
So I hate the fact that all that turmoil existed. But if you sat here in a chair, especially the one I've sat in for 25 years, and regretted every decision that didn't work you make a lot of decisions that don't work. And that's part of the gig.
But I hate it when the Gator Nation isn't all united and moving in the right direction. That's like I told you earlier, that's why I think it's a perfect time for transition, because whomever comes in here is not dealing with those conversations, not dealing with we have to evaluate this coach or this program and fans are telling them what to do and there's decisiveness or NCAA issue or what have you. You're taking over a program obviously one of the nation's best. Some of the best coaches, if not the best coaches, in America, unbelievably talented, committed staff. That's what they're getting here.
Yeah, I regret that, but I regret things didn't work out the way they were planned. But that's the nature of again my chair.
Q. You're under contract until January of 2018. Do you anticipate possibly you have the option do you anticipate being here or being around or being an advisor beyond that, or a clean break?
JEREMY FOLEY: No, I mean I'm always going to be part of this institution. But obviously this decision just got made yesterday. And I've been offered an opportunity to stay around the university and be part of this institution.
I think that's going to depend on Kent. Obviously it will depend on my successor, whether I'm involved in the athletic program. I certainly do have some institutional knowledge that I think can be helpful. But I don't want ever a clean break from the Gators ever. Maybe from you. (Laughter).
Q. How busy will you be these last few months, and the facilities thing, what things do you want to make sure get taken care of or at least in that direction when you leave?
JEREMY FOLEY: I think not I think I know. I've looked Coach Mack in the eye, looked Sully in the eye, looked at them all in the eyes, there's some things we need to do with their facilities.
Staff of people Chip Howard obviously works on the facility front and gets those things designed and everything. And at the end of the day it comes down to making sure we have the resources in place to pay for them.
I need to put together a funding plan. I think it will entail some fundraising. I think Gator Nation is committed to that. And obviously we'll call on them to help us out.
If the funding is in place and the design part and architects, that's just work in getting it done. So I feel some urgency to get that done. I think if it's not done on October 2nd, like I said, I'm not going anywhere; we can finish some things.
I think all those facilities are very, very important to those coaches, to our program, and we're excited about doing it. We like building facilities.
We get, I think, assigned the stigma every once in a while that we're not invested in facilities. We're spending $100 million in facilities. When the Hawkins Center that Kent referred to is open and dedicated, people are going to see how first class it is. The same with the O'Connell Center across the street.
Coach Mack will tell you the indoor practice facility is as good as any in the country. We like building them and doing them right. We're excited about the next phase of our projects.
JEREMY FOLEY: Absolutely. I've said it often. When I was trying to figure out what this business was all about and the problems in the '80s had a huge influence on me. And let me tell you why, just quickly.
When I first got here, all anybody wanted to do was win one Southeastern Conference football championship, just one. In 1984 we won one up in Kentucky. We flew back into Gainesville. And there were 50,000 people in the stadium waiting for us.
There were parades, people lining the streets of Gainesville. And it was an unbelievable night. For those of you that were there, you remember; it was an unbelievable night.
Two, three, four months later the trophy, the championship was taken away from us because the issues we were dealing with. And I can remember back then saying to myself: What was that all about? I have a ring somewhere at my house that I could wear it but it doesn't stand for anything because the championship was vacated.
So we talked a lot about that. And obviously we had additional problems later on in the '80s. I always thought we were a program that had two strikes against us.
I told my staff often: We're not going down the three strike route, the place that it is too important to this institution to run this, to run this right. So it was a constant message. Obviously we have coaches and staff who buy into that.
And that's the key. At the end of the day, there's always another championship, there's always another game, but your integrity is there's nothing worth that. So, again, that's something we talked about time and time again.
Q. With what the revenue producing sports, the two biggest ones, football and basketball, can do for an athletic program and everything, but the emphasis on the Olympic sports, the women's sports, what are those sports and what do success in those sports do for a college campus and a student body and the student athletes involved?
JEREMY FOLEY: Well, I think that one thing we're very proud of I think that the Florida Gator athletic brand is special for a lot of different reasons. But I think for the fact we have success in 21 sports is one of the biggest reasons.
If you're on a college campus, you have to pay attention to all sports. It's been part of our DNA here before I was athletic director. It was just the way it was when Bill Carr was the AD and when Bill Armsparger was the AD, that's the only thing I ever knew, is you've got to pay attention to all sports.
When you're having success at the highest level, I can't tell you the number of people that emailed me after Mouse won last Friday night, when Tim wins back to back, and Rhonda wins back to back to back. It's important. It may not have as much money involved or may not have as many people there, may not get the same headlines.
It's just so important if you're going to do things right and represent an institution like this and be a national brand, you got to be more than a one or two sports program. That's always been our philosophy.
For those of us that work here, it's the energy in what we do. We all love watching football and basketball games. I'll tell you, we don't miss many lacrosse games or soccer games or softball games or baseball games. It's the juice and energy in what we do.
If you're going to do it, might as well do it right and try to win, and that's what we try to do here. Keeping score in all of them. So we're going to try to win.
Q. When you are walking away after 25 years, any regrets at all; it's not about walking away, about your time?
JEREMY FOLEY: Regrets about my time? I got asked that question earlier today. I don't regret anything. I regret that some decisions that you made, and if you're in the chair you're going to make them, they all don't work out. And I regret decisions that didn't work out, because when they don't work out, especially hiring coaches, tremendous turmoil within a program, within a fan base, obviously to the coaches themselves and their families and their staff.
And none of those decisions were made with ill intent. And they were thought through. And they didn't work as I envisioned them to work.
So I hate the fact that all that turmoil existed. But if you sat here in a chair, especially the one I've sat in for 25 years, and regretted every decision that didn't work you make a lot of decisions that don't work. And that's part of the gig.
But I hate it when the Gator Nation isn't all united and moving in the right direction. That's like I told you earlier, that's why I think it's a perfect time for transition, because whomever comes in here is not dealing with those conversations, not dealing with we have to evaluate this coach or this program and fans are telling them what to do and there's decisiveness or NCAA issue or what have you. You're taking over a program obviously one of the nation's best. Some of the best coaches, if not the best coaches, in America, unbelievably talented, committed staff. That's what they're getting here.
Yeah, I regret that, but I regret things didn't work out the way they were planned. But that's the nature of again my chair.
Q. You're under contract until January of 2018. Do you anticipate possibly you have the option do you anticipate being here or being around or being an advisor beyond that, or a clean break?
JEREMY FOLEY: No, I mean I'm always going to be part of this institution. But obviously this decision just got made yesterday. And I've been offered an opportunity to stay around the university and be part of this institution.
I think that's going to depend on Kent. Obviously it will depend on my successor, whether I'm involved in the athletic program. I certainly do have some institutional knowledge that I think can be helpful. But I don't want ever a clean break from the Gators ever. Maybe from you. (Laughter).
Q. How busy will you be these last few months, and the facilities thing, what things do you want to make sure get taken care of or at least in that direction when you leave?
JEREMY FOLEY: I think not I think I know. I've looked Coach Mack in the eye, looked Sully in the eye, looked at them all in the eyes, there's some things we need to do with their facilities.
Staff of people Chip Howard obviously works on the facility front and gets those things designed and everything. And at the end of the day it comes down to making sure we have the resources in place to pay for them.
I need to put together a funding plan. I think it will entail some fundraising. I think Gator Nation is committed to that. And obviously we'll call on them to help us out.
If the funding is in place and the design part and architects, that's just work in getting it done. So I feel some urgency to get that done. I think if it's not done on October 2nd, like I said, I'm not going anywhere; we can finish some things.
I think all those facilities are very, very important to those coaches, to our program, and we're excited about doing it. We like building facilities.
We get, I think, assigned the stigma every once in a while that we're not invested in facilities. We're spending $100 million in facilities. When the Hawkins Center that Kent referred to is open and dedicated, people are going to see how first class it is. The same with the O'Connell Center across the street.
Coach Mack will tell you the indoor practice facility is as good as any in the country. We like building them and doing them right. We're excited about the next phase of our projects.
