re: What SEC rival school's program are you jealous of?

Arkansas baseball stadium and T&F programs.

LSU Baseball because they are the best Baseball program in the country.

Georgia Football, because they have the best coach in CFB right now.

Basketball..Kentucky because they have the best basketball program of all time.


But having won a National title in each, multiple in two. all Natty titles in my lifetime...it has been fun being a Gator fan. Even though I hate Billy Napier beyond belief, never hated a UF coach ever. Was very, very new.

I don’t know if jealous is the right word.

Alabama and Georgia have had great success the last 15 years.

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I'd argue, historically speaking, it has everything to do with the all-out pursuit of the "Director's Cup." Florida didn't have a gridiron pulse until the 1990s, and Spurrier left still in his coaching prime. In blows Urban Meyer for a cup of coffee, and he too was gone. Historically speaking, that's it for the last 125-plus years of pigskin glory. If you feel compelled to now discuss the Charlie Pell era, please don't.

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So which coach did we go all out for in any of these "other" sports? What facility did we build, or top player did we entice in these "other" sports that took away from football?

Not a single one. UF is not known for having a state of the art facility in any sport that is head and shoulders above anyone else, nor have we thrown money at top coaches in order to lure them to Gainesville. We got Spurrier from Duke, Meyer from Utah, Billy from Marshall, Golden from San Fransisco, and Sully was never a head coach prior to Florida. We have nice facilities, but they aren't the best. Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and South Carolina have better basketball arenas. There are probably half a dozen better baseball parks. Same with tennis facilities, golf courses, natatoriums, and don't get me started on track and field.

UF hasn't taken money away from football, we have just been historically cheap, even when we didn't need to be, and were giving millions back to the university year after year. That is a Jeremy Foley thing.

UF was pretty good during the 80's. 5th in the SEC in overall winning pct and we had to play FSU and Miami every year who became powerhouse programs in the 80's. We also played Auburn and Georgia back to back every year back then which was bullshite.

Georgia 88-27-4
Auburn 86-31-1
Alabama 85-32-2
Tennessee 77-37-5
Florida 76-37-3

Billy Napier was from ULL

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UF hasn't taken money away from football, we have just been historically cheap, even when we didn't need to be, and were giving millions back to the university year after year. That is a Jeremy Foley thing.

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Agree with the sentiment of the post with one exception. Giving money back to the school wasn't a Foley thing, it was an order from the UF President.

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. It will be lucky to break even. Imagine the roster we could have with that money. I do enjoy basketball but man feels like a bad decision to spend that much on Basketball.

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Basketball is a bit of an outlier this season because of the unique nature of all of these top guys returning, but this is also what the people giving us the resources want. UF basketball is a proven commodity and they went all in. Very real chance to pull in a 4th national title.

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I could be wrong, but I don’t ever recall this. Can you link the information please

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The UF President has pretty broad power over the UAA, especially the budget since they have final signoff and get line item authority.

Here is one example from back in the mid-2000's with Machen:

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According to the Gainsville Sun, The University of Florida (UF) has asked its University Athletic Association (UAA) to make $6 million is cuts, to be returned to the university’s budget. UF President Bernie Machen said, “They ought to take the same cut as everybody else.”

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UF was forced to go through state budget cuts. Machen hated the optics of the UAA carrying a profit at the same time so he directed millions back to the university to cover costs. Right when football and basketball were at their peak, he was forcing the athletic department to hand over money.