From goat to hero. That's the story of University of Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley. It's amazing what a few major sport national championships will do for one's image.
Foley, 54, became the highest-paid athletic director in the nation with a contract agreed upon with school officials on Friday. The new deal will keep him in Gainesville for 11 more years, and could be worth as much as $1.2 million annually. Foley had last inked a contract with the university in 2005. That deal was worth just $600,000 annually. Two years later, a new contract could double his salary.
It's amazing what a few major sport national championships will do.
Foley's story as a University of Florida employee is one of true success. Athletic director since 1992, Foley started at Florida in 1976 as an intern in the school's athletic ticket office. Now, he's in his 15th year at the helm of one of the nation's most dominant sports programs. But it's only dominant because of Foley's tenure. Prior to his promotion to AD in 1992, the Gators had won just eight national championships in all sports. They have since won 12 more.
Criticism and dissent
Life as Florida's top athletic official has not always been a bed of roses for Foley. In fact, there have been times when it was hard to see the blooms for the thorns. Foley was much-criticized by some Gator fans for various decisions throughout the late '90s and into the turn of the century. The criticism increased in 2001, when football coach Steve Spurrier left for the professional ranks and was replaced with New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Ron Zook.
Zook's success with the Florida football program was only so-so by Gator standards. More importantly, he was never able to win over the legion of Florida fans in Gainesville. In just three years, he was dismissed.
But Foley took even more flack after Zook's firing because he didn't swiftly hire Spurrier, who was fed up with life in the NFL and was ready to return to the collegiate level. Spurrier would ultimately become head coach at Florida's SEC Eastern Division foe, South Carolina.
Foley was able to lure Utah head coach Urban Meyer to Gainesville after it looked certain that Meyer and his high-octane offense were headed to Notre Dame. That was Foley's second important hire. His first, hiring basketball coach Billy Donovan in 1996, had not yet reached its full potential, even though the Gator hoops program was experiencing solid success, making the NCAA Tournament every year since 2001.
Rise to dominance
Though no one could have known it at the time, the Florida program was on the verge of becoming the most dominant athletic program in college sports. In the fall of 2005, the Gators' basketball team got off to its best start in school history, jumping to as high as #2 in the Associated Press poll. The following spring, the Gators defeated UCLA to win the national championship.
Things would get better. Nine months later, Meyer's Gators stunned overwhelming favorite Ohio State 41-14 to win the BCS national championship in just Meyer's second season. Meyer has also amassed an undefeated 6-0 record against the Gators' top three rivals, Florida State, Georgia and Tennessee.
Things would get better. Three months later, Donovan and the Gators were back in the national championship again, defeating Ohio State to win back-to-back championships for the first time since Duke did it in the early '90s.
It is easy to say that the top two sports in college football are being dominated by the Gators. The football program is defending national champion and the basketball program is twice-defending national champion. All because of the architect in the front office, Jeremy Foley. A recent St. Petersburg Times headline shouted of Foley, "Director of dominance." It's hard to disagree.
Off the field successes
Foley's off-the-field successes have been just as crucial as his on-the-field achievements. This spring, Gator fans were disheartened when Donovan announced he was leaving to accept a head coaching position with the NBA's Orlando Magic. Somehow, Foley worked a deal with Donovan and, before a week had passed, the basketball coach was back in Gainesville as the highest-paid coach ($3.5 million) in college basketball.
Foley has also oversaw fundraising efforts credited with raising some $150 million for capital projects, including major renovations to Ben Griffin Hill Stadium.
In a release Friday, University of Florida President Dr. Bernie Machen said of Foley's contract, "[It] is what you would expect for the best athletic director in the nation." Don't expect to see any pundits rushing to call that statement an overstatement.
