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Report: Florida AD’s post-retirement plans the hangup in hiring successor
By Andrew Olson
Published:
When Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley announced his retirement on June 13, no one expected the job to remain unfilled in September.
While Foley had set Oct. 1 as his last day, the expectation was that his replacement would be introduced prior to the start of football season.
USA Today’s Dan Wolken spoke to a number of people close to the search on the condition of anonymity, and he found out that Foley’s post-retirement plans are keeping some of his potential successors away:
In conversations with people familiar with the matter, one potential issue has come up several times: Foley’s continued presence at Florida in an emeritus position. Essentially, some higher-profile athletics directors who might have been interested in the job aren’t sure about the dynamics of having Foley, who was credited for much of Florida’s athletics success during his 25-year run, right down the hall.
Wolken reports that North Carolina’s Bubba Cunningham and Arizona’s Greg Byrne were two candidates the Gators had pursued.
On Aug. 25, Foley appeared on a preseason edition of the team’s weekly football radio show and was asked about possibly staying on beyond Oct. 1.
“We’re trying to get that figured out here in the next couple weeks, but obviously I’m always going to look after the Gators. We’ll see what’s going on,” he said.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
