GAINESVILLE — As Florida searched for its next athletic director, other candidates may have been turned off by the giant shadow cast by the soon-to-be-retired Jeremy Foley.
Not Scott Stricklin.
"Going through this process, the thing that kind of just kept pushing me forward was, this is the University of Florida," Stricklin said Tuesday after being introduced as the Gators' new AD. "There's not very many opportunities in my profession to have the platform we have here, to have the voice on a national level we have here in the SEC and just be a part of a great challenge: How do you take something that's really good and try to keep it moving forward?"
That great challenge is what caused Stricklin to leave his position as AD at his alma mater, Mississippi State. How the 46-year-old Mississippi native tackles it will determine the success of his tenure, beginning when he officially joins the Gators on Nov. 1.
Stricklin more than doubled his salary, from about $450,000 (according to USA Today) to slightly less than $1.1 million in a six-year contract that includes up to $200,000 annually in athletic and academic bonuses.
UF chose Stricklin out of a group of 22 viable candidates that search committee chair Manny Fernandez said was "highly diverse" in gender and ethnicity. The three-month process centered only on sitting athletic directors from major conferences. Six candidates received in-person visits, and two finalists personally met with UF president Kent Fuchs.
"He's the whole package, right?" Fernandez said. "This is somebody that you want to go out to the movies with, that you want to go out and have a beer with."
And somebody that can run a successful program in the SEC.
Mississippi State's football team rose to No. 1 in the country under his watch without sacrificing other sports — a big plus for a well-rounded UF athletic department that won 27 national titles under Foley.
"If you don't value all the sports here, you're not a right fit — and Scott has a track record of that," said Foley, who will transition to an emeritus role when Stricklin arrives. "Scott believes that in his heart, and I believe that's who he is and that's why he's attractive."
So, too, was his fundraising prowess that will determine whether the Gators continue to move forward, especially in football's arms race.
Stricklin oversaw $140 million in facilities upgrades in his six years as the Bulldogs' AD. He led the fundraising efforts there by using the same relationship-building and communication skills that helped him work his way up the profession in media relations.
UF will need those skills immediately. This month, the Gators unveiled a $100 million facilities master plan that includes upgrades to the baseball and softball stadiums and a new stand-alone football complex that will be paid for through bonds, debt and fundraising.
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Explore all your options"Obviously he embraces it," Fuchs said. "He's going to be a marvelous fundraiser. He's going to raise a lot of money for facilities. We're going to make that happen."
But that will only be one part of how Stricklin elevates one of the 10 largest programs in the country.
He will be charged with bringing new ideas to an athletic department that has been remarkably stable in Foley's 25 years as AD. He will try to build connections to fill Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for every game and boost UF's brand through social media (his Twitter account has more than 56,000 followers).
"Everything changes — nothing ever stays the same," Stricklin said. "So we have two choices, right? We can either sit back, kind of let everything move around us, or we can keep pushing forward and making sure Florida maintains their position as the preeminent athletic department in the country."
Contact Matt Baker at mbaker@tampabay.com. Follow @MBakerTBTimes.