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Florida-Georgia: UF's Jeremy Foley on retirement, growing thick skin and 'the last time I'll have good seats'

 
University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley walks on the sidelines during the second half of the 2014 football game between Florida and Georgia in Jacksonville. [Associated Press (2014)]
University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley walks on the sidelines during the second half of the 2014 football game between Florida and Georgia in Jacksonville. [Associated Press (2014)]
Published Oct. 28, 2016

Jeremy Foley's final day as Florida athletic director is next Tuesday. Foley is winding up 40 years with the Gators, including a quarter century as athletic director. Last Monday, he was packing boxes. He'll move to a fourth-floor office to make way for his successor, Scott Stricklin, whose first day as athletic director is Nov. 1. Foley won't be a stranger during the transition.

"I want to be accessible to Scott, because this is a big ship with a lot of doors and a lot cabins," Foley said. "Obviously, he's more than capable. I just want to make sure that when he opens a door, he knows who's behind it. I joke with him that I'm going to put a little desk in (his office), just a little one. I'm going to be around. At the end of the day, these people are my family. I'm not just going to totally walk away."

Foley, 63, steered the Good Ship Florida like few athletic directors ever have ever steered anything. There were the 27 Florida team national championships on his watch, including three in football and two in basketball. There was that remarkable Year of the Gator in 2006, football and basketball titles. No probation for any team in Foley's tenure as A.D. Plus an athletics budget that grew from $30 million to $119 million.

Foley is currently 1-2 at hiring football coaches (though Urban Meyer was a big 1). The ballots haven't been tabulated on Jim McElwain, but early returns are good. More so if Florida knocks off Georgia on Saturday. It will be Foley's 41st consecutive Florida-Georgia game since he arrived in Gainesville, his final one as UF athletic director.

Last Monday, he sat in his office and chatted about past and present, about orange and blue.

Saturday's Florida-Georgia game will be your final game as Florida athletic director.

"Last time I'll have good seats."

Do you remember your first Florida-Georgia game?

"Absolutely I do. 1976. I can remember the buzz, because if we win, we win the SEC. We lost 41-27. We were ahead 27-13. Oh, yeah. Ch-ching, ch-ching — people were counting on the win. The thing about Florida-Georgia, it's a game of unbelievable momentum shifts. You can almost feel it. It's hard to stop it sometimes."

What about Lindsay Scott in 1980?

"All I can remember is looking back for a flag. Please, let there be a flag."

Is there something about going to that game that never changes?

"We used to stay at the airport. Driving up even through Starke, I-10, it had a heartbeat. Even now, when I go over that (Hart Bridge), you talk about getting the juices going. It takes forever getting in the parking lot. Your stomach is in a knot. But it's the juice that makes this business special. That's as good a juice as there is."

Will you miss the "juice" of being athletic director?

"I'll miss the juice a lot. I've got to figure out how to replace it. Ted Leland, one of the greatest (athletic directors) in the business, he was at Stanford, and when he retired, I called him to wish him well. He told me, 'Jeremy, we've been on that adrenaline rush for so long. I just hope I navigate not being on the rush.' To some extent, I'm going to feel the same way. But I'm not going to stop being a fan. … I will still find my rush somehow, because the Gators have been such a big part of my life."

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How touched were you to get a game ball from coach Jim McElwain after the Missouri game, your final football home game?

"I thought that was really cool. Coach Spurrier gave me one once, the first game in the Swamp. I think we whacked Tennessee, or we whacked somebody. Maybe Auburn? Urban (Meyer) gave me a game ball after the two national championships, after it was over.

"It gets emotional. It's not been a six-month weeping tour. But meeting with all the coaches just to thank them … I've been with some longer than others. Tomorrow is my last staff meeting. I'm going to try to make it through that. It's just hard, when you care so much, not to be emotional."

How proud of you of 40 years at your staying power — 40 years at one school, 25 as athletic director?

"I'm proud of it, because it's not like it's been the same president or the same situation for 40 years. There are some difficult times in there, and maybe when things weren't going well here. NCAA probation or you made a coaching hire that didn't work out, in this day and age, at a lot of places, they change everybody. I just went to work every day. That's all you can do. Obviously things were pretty good for 40 years, because they kept me around.

"There are a few scars on my back. It's the nature of the beast. I don't like that part of it. I will tell you I've become much better at dealing with that. The (Ron) Zook thing, it was brand new for me. I had just been with Coach Spurrier, 50 points a game. I didn't handle the Zook thing very well. I learned to handle it. I don't like the slings and arrows. I hated all the stuff here with the hurricane here recently."

How difficult was the hurricane? The decision, the backlash, the rescheduling?

"I'll be honest with you, I really felt, I was really pleased that (incoming athletic director) Scott (Stricklin) didn't have to deal with it. Because I think it would have been hard, it would have been a bad thing for him to deal with right away. It just wouldn't have been fair to him. So there was a silver lining. It's not the first time I had to deal with tough stuff like that. I've got the best staff in the world to help me deal with that. It's not the first time I made a decision that people didn't like. … I was given the situation and I had to deal with it. And I dealt with it the best I could. If I could wave a wand, I wouldn't want to deal with that. But I'm still athletic director."

You've dealt with a lot over the years …

"I hated what happened with Will (Muschamp). I really liked Will. I hate that stuff. But if you're going to be in the chair in a place like this, there are going to be ups and downs, there are going to be slings and arrows, there are going to be accolades and too much credit when things are going well, too much blame when things aren't going well. It's part of the gig. And I got better at it. If I hadn't gotten better at it, I wouldn't have survived.

"The Ron Zook deal kind of brought me to my knees a little bit. It was overwhelming and I didn't expect it. I didn't know how to deal with it. I figured out how to deal with it. There are always expectations here. There have to be. At Florida you should be in the hunt _ at everything."

Florida has been one of the top athletics programs for so long, a measuring stick. Does it bother you never took home the Directors' Cup for best overall program?

"Stanford is always there. Two years ago, we lost it by 16 points, the closest we've ever been. We have a program that's been in the top 10 for 34 years. I think one day we'll win it. Under Scott's watch."

And no Florida sports team ever landed on probation on your watch. Pride there, too?

"We learned lessons, obviously, when we won (a 1984 SEC football championship) that didn't count. We gave out rings and we couldn't wear them. We just didn't do the right thing. I'm very proud of doing it right. I learned from that, and I learned from Bill Arnsparger, and I learned from Coach Spurrier. You just do things the right way."

Florida won 27 team championships during your tenure as athletic director. You were there for most of them, correct?

"I missed three national championships out of 27. Obviously, those championships, that's the juice. But all of them are, any time you win one. I don't think people understand how hard it is to win one. It's why we got in the business. I like to win. I don't like to win at all costs. But I like to freaking win."

Any hard plans for retirement?

"I'm definitely some things I'm going to hit a little more. Music. Concerts in particular, live music. Like Bruce (Springsteen's) last show on this tour was in Boston. I couldn't go. There was too much to do here. I've never been to New Orleans Jazz Festival, because it's May, and there are always a million things going on around here and this is where I belonged."

Talk about your successor. Any advice for him?

"He's really good. He's really smart. And he's blown away by the staff. I would just tell him to take advantage of that.

"It's all so fleeting. Bottom line: Six months from now, this world will have totally changed. Scott Stricklin will feel as if he's been here forever."

A writer, I think it was Chris Harry, dubbed Florida athletics "The Firm," for the organization you built, firm, single-minded, driven. Admit it: You liked that nickname, didn't you?

"I loved that. It's a very competitive place. We're going to do things the right way. It's going to work together. Obviously, The Firm, it came from the movie, from bad stuff. We weren't going to do bad stuff. Maybe we're pros. We wanted to be known as professionals. I joked about it with the staff. I told them if you didn't get things done, we're going to send you to the Cayman Islands. If you guys wanted to look at us like that, I kind of liked that."

What are your regrets as Florida A.D.?

"I wish every coaching hire I made had worked out. Especially at a high-profile football school. It's so divisive. It's ugly. It's not realistic. … The fans' passion can sometimes be over the top. But their passion is also what makes it special, because when they're buying tickets and making contributions to build buildings. I wish it was more middle of the road. But I don't regret hiring anyone, because they were all good people. I used to have 'For Sale signs put at my house. When it was bad, people would put up "For Sale' signs. It's part of the gig.

"But it was so new for me. The criticism, I didn't know how to navigate it. I didn't have a thick skin. Obviously there have been a lot of hard times since then. I'd love to tell you criticism doesn't bother me. Nobody likes to be criticized. My skin is a little thicker. And you come to understand that when you're sitting here and you're 4-8, that's why people are criticizing you.

"But there were times I was unprofessional. I was too much of a fan. You treat people right. That's why I tell everyone around here. Well, I didn't treat some people in the media right. It's the absolute truth. I've gotten better."

You're an animal lover. Dog updates?

"One. Stella. Little black Lab. She's a rescue dog. I got her on the way home from the Florida-Georgia game a year ago."

What would you like people to say when your name comes up?

"He was a good guy."

And it all wraps up in Jacksonville. Florida-Georgia.

"My sister is from Jacksonville, so when I first moved to Gainesville and didn't know anybody, I'd go to Jacksonville every single weekend, my home away from home, so Jacksonville has always had a special place for me. It's fitting. It's perfect."

Still, you want to win Saturday, right?

"You're damn right I do."