------
* Roundtable: Which freshmen defensive backs will turn heads in 2017?
* Roundtable: Discussing potential impact 2017 signees on offense
* Roundtable: Picking sleeper and redshirt candidates from the 2017 class
* Reviewing Florida's Summer B enrollees on offense and how they fit
* Reviewing the Summer B enrollees: Defensive line and linebackers
* The rundown on Florida’s Summer B enrollees: Secondary
* GET TWO MONTHS OF INSIDETHEGATORS.COM FOR FREE
------
New Florida athletic Scott Stricklin hasn’t even been on the job for eight months, but in that short time he has seen his programs bring home plenty of hardware.
With the Gators baseball team defeating LSU 6-1 on Tuesday night in Game 2 of the College World Series in Omaha to win its first national title in program history, now three different Florida teams have won national titles in a span of five weeks.
To reference a popular Stricklin hashtag, “#IsThatGood?”
Absolutely. That’s part what comes with Stricklin inheriting a well rounded and successful athletic department that former AD Jeremy Foley helped build at the helm for a quarter of a century.
In particular, the 2016-17 athletic calendar year has been a highly successful one for Florida sports – especially now with UF baseball on top. In late May, the Florida women’s tennis team captured its first national title since 2012 with a victory over Stanford. Sixteen days later, the Gators men’s track and field won its second consecutive outdoor championship.
It’s been a mostly great year as well for many of Florida’s other programs. After the Florida football team captured its second straight SEC East crown, the men’s basketball squad reached the Elite Eight in just Mike White’s second year at the helm. The softball team finished as the College World Series runner-up, falling to Oklahoma in the final, while gymnastics capped off the year with a third-place finish in the NCAA Super Six behind Oklahoma and LSU.
Other Florida programs achieved success in 2016-17. Men’s swimming and diving won an SEC Championship and finished third at NCAAs, while Florida’s women’s soccer team reached the NCAA quarterfinals after capturing an SEC Tournament crown. Men’s tennis also reached the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
2016-17 was a year of progress as well for Florida women’s golf, as it won an SEC Championship and then clinched a spot in match play in the NCAA Tournament, before falling to Arizona State. In addition to its outdoor title, men’s T&F placed second at indoors, while the women’s team finished fifth at NCAA Outdoors.
Although the volleyball team’s NCAA Tournament appearance ended early at the hands of FSU, the group captured its 22nd SEC title, the fourth-most of any SEC team. The same applies to women’s lacrosse – before it was stunned in the NCAA Tournament, it won the Big East Tournament for the third consecutive year.
As has been made apparent already on social media – by Florida in a post seemingly trolling LSU – UF is the only program in the nation this year to have football compete in a bowl game, men’s basketball reach the Elite Eight, softball earn a WCWS berth and baseball reach the CWS.
Florida’s first national title in baseball further solidifies its standing as one of the top athletic programs in the country. The Gators now claim 39 national titles in its school’s history, with 23 of those coming since 2000.
With the baseball title, Florida now joins an exclusive club consisting of six Division I schools with football, basketball and baseball titles. California, Michigan, Ohio State, Stanford and UCLA are the other five. UF is the only school in the past 50 years to accomplish the feat.
Gators baseball is now the 14th different UF team to win a national title, joining the following: football, men’s basketball, softball, gymnastics, soccer, men’s and women’s golf, men’s indoor and outdoor track and field, women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and women’s tennis.
It’s only further evidence as to why the foundation for Florida athletics is so promising and the future looks bright for the program as a whole. With a $60 million stand-alone football facility on the way, and renovations to UF’s softball and baseball stadiums coming, there’s plenty to be excited about with the Gators.
A baseball national title Tuesday night put an exclamation point on that notion.
------
Thank you for reading this Inside the Gators article. To discuss it, please visit the Alligator Alley Forum.
