The University Athletic Association, Inc. (UAA) is a

non-profit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been Incorporation (business), incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a ...

that is responsible for maintaining the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

intercollegiate sports program of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

. The UAA is run by a board of directors led by the University of Florida's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

. The athletic director also acts as the UAA's

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

and reports directly to the president of the university. The University Athletic Association was incorporated in 1929 with impetus from university president

John J. Tigert John James Tigert IV (February 11, 1882 – January 21, 1965) was an American university president, university professor and administrator, college sports coach and the U.S. Commissioner of Education. Tigert was a native of Tennessee and the ...

to oversee the construction of

Florida Field Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),2014–2015 Operating Budget Executive Summary
Retrieved September 4, 2014.

Current varsity sports

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

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

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. * Alfred L. Buser (1917–20)* *

William G. Kline William Gordon Kline (June 21, 1882 – after 1942) was an American college football, baseball and basketball coach. At different times, Kline served as the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball, basketball and football teams, as we ...

(1920–23)* * James L. White (1923–25) * Everett M. Yon (1925–28) *

Charlie Bachman Charles William Bachman Jr. (December 1, 1892 – December 14, 1985) was an American college American football, football player and head coach. Bachman was an Illinois native and an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame, where he played colleg ...

(1928–30)* * Edgar C. Jones (1930–36) *

Josh Cody Joshua Crittenden Cody (June 11, 1892 – June 17, 1961) was an American college athlete, head coach, and athletics director. Cody was a native of Tennessee and an alumnus of Vanderbilt University, where he played several sports. As a versatil ...

(1936–39)* *

Tom Lieb Thomas John Lieb (October 28, 1899 – April 30, 1962) was an American Olympic track and field athlete, an All-American college football player and a multi-sport collegiate coach. Lieb was a Minnesota native and an alumnus of the University ...

(1940–45)* *

Raymond Wolf Raymond Bernard Wolf (July 15, 1904 – October 6, 1979), nicknamed "Bear" Wolf, was an American football and baseball player and coach. Wolf was a native of Illinois and an alumnus of Texas Christian University (TCU), where he played college f ...

(1946–49)* *

Bob Woodruff Robert Warren Woodruff (born August 18, 1961) is an American television journalist. Since 1996, he has served as a reporter for ABC News. Woodruff co-anchored ABC World News Tonight in 2006 alongside ABC News journalist Elizabeth Vargas. He was ...

(1950–59)* *

Ray Graves Samuel Ray Graves (December 31, 1918 – April 10, 2015) was an American college and professional football player and college football coach. He was a native of Tennessee and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he was the starting ...

(1960–79)* * Bill Carr (1979–86) *

Bill Arnsparger William Stephen Arnsparger (December 16, 1926 – July 17, 2015) was an American college and professional football coach. He was born and raised in Paris, Kentucky, served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, and graduated from Mi ...

(1986–92) *

Jeremy Foley Jeremy N. Foley (born December 1, 1952) is an American university sports administrator and former college athlete. Foley was an award-winning athletic director for the Florida Gators Division I sports program of the University of Florida locat ...

(1992–2016) * Scott Stricklin (2016– ) ''* 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 were loosely organized and operated on much smaller budgets than today's major college programs. Some of Florida's athletic directors also coached other sports while serving as the school's AD – James White coached basketball and baseball, while Edgar Jones coached golf. Some of UF's athletic directors were alumni who had been scholarship athletes at the school, including Everett Yon, Edgar Jones and Bill Carr. While Bill Arnsparger was not a Florida graduate and never coached at the school, he was serving as the head coach of the

LSU Tigers football team The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and ...

when he accepted an offer to become Florida's AD in 1986, and he left the administrative position to resume his coaching career as an assistant in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. The last person to serve as Florida's AD while simultaneously coaching was Ray Graves, who resigned as Florida's head football coach in 1970 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, became the first UF AD to have never been a college coach or scholarship athlete when he was promoted to the position in 1992. Scott Stricklin, who has served as Florida's AD since Foley's retirement, arrived with extensive management experience in university athletic departments but had similarly never been a college coach or player.

References

{{Authority control Florida Gators 1929 establishments in Florida

Current varsity sports

Athletic directors

See also

References