Longtime Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley has announced his retirement after 25 years on the job and 40 with the department. He'll remain in his post until Oct. 1, then move into an emeritus AD role.
"You always want to leave an organization in good shape,'' Foley said. "Right now, we obviously have a great group of coaches, we have had a good year and we've got things moving in the right direction. I just think that makes it a good time to transition."
Foley represents a classic American success story, rising from the Gators' ticket office in 1976 to the head chair of one of the largest, most successful athletics departments in the country.
And, boy, were Foley's Gators successful.
Since his ascension to the AD job in 1992, Florida claimed its first-ever national championships in football, men's basketball -- including an unprecedented football/basketball double in 2006-07 -- women's soccer and softball. And, who knows, another first-time championship could be on the way with the Gators' baseball team just a win away from its eighth College World Series trip in the Foley era.
Foley made his name with masterful hires of Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan, but he was not without fault -- when you're in that job for a quarter century, it's possible not to be. Foley struggled to replace his Hall of Fame football coaches, replacing Steve Spurrier with Ron Zook and Meyer with Will Muschamp. (His final football hire, Jim McElwain, appears to be on the right track through just one season.) But, still, when you hire football and men's basketball coaches that produce four national championships in a three-year span, your legacy as an athletics director is more than secure.
In fact, Foley is the only AD in Division I history whose hires netted national crowns in football and men's basketball.
Another point bolstering Foley's chops: in an age where most programs can't even promote from within without hiring a search firm, Foley conducted wide-ranging searches on his own. His pulling of Meyer from Utah and McElwain from Colorado State remain a model for others to follow.
"Jeremy's amazing accomplishments as athletics director are well known, and the university is very grateful to him for the national championships, a winning sports program that is highly ranked year after year, and the growth of women's sports,'' UF president Kent Fuchs said. "Jeremy also has a well-deserved reputation for recruiting the nation's most talented coaches and building an athletic association that is recognized as among the very best in the country.
"What I especially appreciate about Jeremy, however, is his integrity and his commitment to our students. Success to Jeremy is a student-athlete who graduates and wins championships in the right way. That is the culture he created here over his 25-year career and it is what we will remember."
The school will hold a press conference to discuss Foley's departure on Tuesday.