University of Florida Athletic Association

University Athletic Association
Established 1929
Director Scott Stricklin
Location Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Website www.uaa.ufl.edu
The Lemerand Center, home of the UAA.

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 University Athletic Association was 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. As of the 2017–18 academic year, the UAA had an annual operating budget of $128 million which is funded entirely through its own revenues with additional support from Gator Boosters, the fundraising arm of the athletic department. The UAA does not depend on the University of Florida's state funding for financial support, and has contributed over $80 million to the school's academic programs since 1990.[3]

Current varsity sports

The University of Florida fields teams in nine men's sports and twelve women's sports, all administered by the UAA:

Men's sports

Women's sports

The Florida 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

Fifteen men have served as the athletic director of the University of Florida's intercollegiate sports program since the position was created in 1917. Beginning with Edgar C. Jones in 1930, the athletic director has also led the UAA.

* 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. This was once a common arrangement at American universities, especially in the first half of the 20th century, when athletic departments tended to be much smaller organizations with much smaller budgets than today's major college programs. Some of Florida's athletic directors coached other sports while serving as the school's AD – 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. Everett Yon, Edgar Jones and Bill Carr were former Gators athletes. While Bill Arnsparger never coached at Florida, he was the head coach of the LSU Tigers football team before coming to Gainesville, and he resigned as Florida's AD to accept an assistant coaching position in the National Football League.

Florida has not had one person simultaneously serving as athletic director and a coach since January 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 UF's Athletic Association, was the first University of Florida AD to have never previously been a coach or a scholarship athlete at the school. Scott Stricklin, who became AD after Foley's retirement, also has extensive experience in collegiate athletic departments but had never been a college coach or player.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hobart & William Smith Colleges: Alumni Biographies-Jeremy Foley '74". Archived from the original on 2010-05-31. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  2. ↑ http://www.uaa.ufl.edu
  3. ↑ University Athletic Association, 2014–2015 Operating Budget Executive Summary. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
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