Thanks to golf, track and field, baseball and gymnastics, UF sports returned to NCAA glory this spring. Can football and basketball turn us back into Championship U?

by Pat Dooley (BSJ ’76)

By now, you’ve likely recovered.

You’re ready for SEC Media Days and the football season that follows.

You’ve been able to think it all through, process it and move on.

And you probably have the same answer to the same question that radio hosts ask during “talking season” (why Steve Spurrier didn’t copyright that saying is a mystery): Does Florida’s success in the spring make up for failures in the fall?

The answer is, “not really but it sure helps.”

We’re coming off an amazing finish to some amazing spring sports. There was a stretch of seven days when the Gators beat FSU (never a bad thing) in men’s golf national semifinals and then won the national championship against Georgia Tech, then — after all the stress we golf fans went through — went on to play five NCAA Regional baseball games, three of them with the season on the line.

It was almost too much.

Meanwhile, the Gators won another national championship in men’s track and field — the 11th men’s title for coach Mike Holloway — and finished second (by .15) to Oklahoma in the NCAA gymnastics championships.

Awesome year, right?

But is it possible to brag about being “the everything school” when your football and basketball teams finish below .500? Depends on how you want to look at it.

Football rules around here like it does everywhere else in the SEC (except maybe Vanderbilt and Kentucky) and, to be honest, most D1 schools. The sport is the front porch of most universities, and when paint is peeling and there are chips gouged out of the floor it’s not a good look. A great spring doesn’t make up for fall football. Never will.

Still, there are a lot of us who care about the entire athletic program. And it was an incredible year in so many ways.

A lot of you treat baseball like most of America treats college basketball. You pay attention but the postseason is when the cost of two beers and nachos at Condron Family Ballpark doesn’t seem bad. Gymnastics is a niche sport. So, is track. Golf is also one of the great niche sports. By that, I mean sports that a few people live and die with, and others are vaguely aware of.

Until, that is, we get to the end of the season. Then a lot of you start digging through the back of the drawer to find your Gator baseball T-shirts or the Swingin’ Gator golfer polos you know are somewhere back there.

The crowds at Condron were unbelievable this postseason. Record setting, able to affect games. The season didn’t end like we hoped, but only one team finishes with a win (unless they were so stinky they didn’t make the NCAA Tournament). The 2023 Gator baseball team gave us so many moments to remember one loss can’t sully the memories. That’s not the right verb, but I know what a great program Kevin O’Sullivan has bult — eight times in the College World Series.

“It’s so hard to just get to Omaha, and then you have to win your side and then a best-of-three series,” he said. “We had a great season. One game doesn’t define the hard work and all the accolades for these guys, both as a team and as individuals.”

That team got my family so fired up we went to Omaha and put up with those LSU fans.

It was the last day of college sports for the academic year, and you sure as heck want to be playing in it. Kind of like the golf team playing on the last day of May.

“It was a dream come true,” said coach J.C. Deacon. “You want to contribute back to the university because they do so much for you. You have to be able to step up when the opportunity is there. We’ve had some really good teams that maybe underachieved. This one, these guys, they loved playing for each other.”

When Fred Biondi’s final putt cuddled up next to the hole and the celebration began, I thought about the day Deacon was hired as Florida’s coach. I didn’t know him from Richard Deacon (“Dick Van Dyke Show,” look it up), and received a tip from friend and former UF player Chuck Hazzard, who is tight with J.C. When his hiring was confirmed, UF set up a teleconference with him. It was me, J.C., Jeremy Foley and senior associate athletic director Mary Howard. That was it. I asked a lot of questions so J.C. would feel welcomed. Our relationship has grown, and I admit I got a little emotional when the Gators won this year.

Like I said, it was a stressful seven days.

“Pretty soon, I’m going to go back and re-watch the coverage,” Deacon said. “But you know what? I told Sully that his baseball team united the Gator Nation like I’ve never seen before. It’s great to be a part of something like this.”

The funny thing is Mouse Holloway’s national title was almost obscured by baseball frenzy. Which is the way he likes it. He was nicknamed “Mouse” as a kid. He likes it quiet. But this spring, the Gators roared like they always seem to do, coming from behind in the last race to win the 4×400 and another championship title.

Once again, ointment was applied to the wounds of the big revenue-producing sports. If you didn’t get into any of it — whether gymnastics, golf, baseball, track or lacrosse winning its 10th straight conference title and swimming sweeping the SEC meet — well, you don’t know what you missed.

If you did get into it, you know what you didn’t miss.

Now, about football.

Sportswriter Pat Dooley (BSJ ’76) covered the Gators for The Gainesville Sun for 33 years until his retirement in 2020. He still shares his love for Gator sports through his podcast, “Another Dooley Noted,” and WRUF radio program, “Dooley’s Back 9.” His Gator Nation News column does not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Florida.