I realize that many only care about football and to a lesser extent basketball and maybe baseball. But I'm looking at the entire athletic department, not just football. Jeremy Foley made UF the most consistent all around athletic department in the NCAA and that's an undeniable fact. He was at the forefront of building up women's sports and put great emphasis on ALL the sports, leading the way for the rest of the SEC to start doing the same. On top of that, Foley ran a tight ship and kept UF from having any major scandals during his entire tenure and insisted on high academic standards, always among the best in the nation in graduation percentages. I know that football is the engine that runs the train, but I love all Gator sports and Jeremy Foley was the best in the NCAA during his 25 years at the helm, IMO. The coaches he hired and/or maintained built programs across the board that, as a whole, were unparalleled in the NCAA. That's undisputable. In addition, Foley was the CEO who oversaw the UAA budget and kept Florida as one of the very few universities whose athletic department turned a profit every year, giving millions per year back to the university's operating budget. And I know that some say Foley had nothing to do with the hiring of Urban Meyer, but I've not seen any proof of that theory. Was he perfect and were all of his decisions, in hindsight, the best ones? No - but what CEO of any corporation makes flawless decisions over a 25-year period?
Here's a brief summary of the man's career as UF's AD:
"Foley served as UF's athletic director from 1992 until 2016, and was responsible for the hiring of several of Florida's most notable coaches, including
Urban Meyer as the head football coach in 2004 and
Billy Donovan as the men's basketball coach in 1996. The sports program finished as the top-ranked overall program in the
Southeastern Conference (SEC) during all but one year under his tenure.
[2] On June 22, 2007, Foley and the UAA signed an eleven-year employment contract "worth up to $1.2 million annually with bonuses, making him the highest paid athletic director in the country and keeping him in Gainesville until retirement age."
[3] University of Florida President
Bernie Machen said "Jeremy's contract is what you would expect for the best athletic director in the nation."
[3]
Jeremy Foley's tenure as Florida's athletic director was generally considered successful by Gator alumni and supporters. He is most notably credited for his hiring of Meyer and Donovan who have won national championships at Florida in the two most popular intercollegiate sports. Foley's successful hires also include
Becky Burleigh (the first and only coach of the fledgling
Florida Gators women's soccer program that won the 1998 national title) and, more recently,
Tim Walton (whose
Gators softball team won the program's first-ever national championship in 2014 and successfully defended its title in 2015).
Foley has also maintained successful and long-term relationships with coaches who were hired before he became athletic director, most notably men's golf coach
Buddy Alexander and volleyball coach
Mary Wise.
Though he demonstrates a fierce loyalty to coaches who bring success to Florida, Foley also proved willing to remove unsuccessful coaches when he became convinced a change was necessary.
Carolyn Peck, who led
Purdue University to a women's basketball NCAA championship, was removed after her fifth season in Gainesville, and two-time College World Series coach
Andy Lopez was fired after six seasons.
While Foley's firing of football coach
Ron Zook midway through the 2004 season was unusual at the time, after the success of Urban Meyer's football teams, other universities have more commonly chosen to jettison football coaches mid-season in order to gain an advantage in the hiring process.
Foley personally attended many athletic competitions for all sports on campus and often traveled with Florida's various sports teams for significant events. In addition to the Gators' success on the playing field, the University of Florida's is one of the few athletic programs in the nation that not only supports itself financially, but makes regular seven-figure contributions to the general fund of its university.
[4]
One of Foley's responsibilities as the University of Florida's athletic director was to act as
chief financial officer (CFO) for the
University Athletic Association. In that capacity he oversaw over $180 million in capital improvements, including two major expansions of the football stadium, the addition of a multi-purpose field house on campus and new facilities for tennis, track & field, soccer, baseball, golf, softball and swimming.
[5][6] Jeremy Foley managed an annual budget of more than $89 million,
[1] but was particularly proud of the athletic program's academic success. "The national average for student-athlete graduation is around 76 percent," he said. "At UF, 92 percent of student-athletes graduate."
[7]"
