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UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2016

Scott Stricklin

Gainesville, Florida

THE MODERATOR: Before we get started just want to go over the schedule for the press conference, which is also being broadcast live on floridagators.com. Dr. Fuchs will come up here, make some opening remarks, introduce Scott Stricklin. He'll make some opening remarks and we'll open it up for Q and A. Both Dr. Fuchs and Manny Fernandez, the chair of the search committee and Jeremy Foley and several Florida coaches are here available afterwards for one-on-one or any individual media sessions. So with that we'll turn it over to Dr. Fuchs.

DR. FUCHS: Thank you, Steve. Good afternoon. Well, it is with great pleasure and excitement that I introduce the University of Florida's next athletic director. For the past three months the chair of our search, Manny Fernandez, has worked full time in seeking out the perfect individual to lead the Florida athletic program for many years into the future. Manny, the Gator Nation owes you a lot, not only for your magnificent leadership of this search, but also for serving as chair of our board of trustees in the past. Manny, could you please stand? I want to recognize you. Thank you. (Applause). In addition, I want to thank our search advisory committee, and I also want to acknowledge two other individuals. Jeremy Foley was an incredible asset to us in every step of our search, and I know how very pleased Jeremy is with the outcome of this search and the individual that we have selected. Finally, I also want to single out Linda Taylor. Linda has been our liaison to the athletic association and all the constituents that were involved in this search. Linda has devoted herself full time to the search, including during her summer vacation. Linda, could you please stand? (Applause). Well, we knew from the start that our next athletic director had to share the same values as our university. These values include the well-being and the personal success of our student-athletes, the success and stature of our entire university, excellence across a breadth of sports, for both women and men, and the recruitment and the support of spectacular coaches in all of our sports. We looked for an individual who had had success as a sitting athletic director in a conference at the same level as the Southeastern Conference. We wanted someone who would further enhance our already excellent facilities. We sought someone who would be successful in building on the legacy of Jeremy Foley and who could take our athletic program to the very next level. We also sought someone who had a vision for the future of collegiate athletics and someone who would be a leader among leaders, both on campus and nationally. Finally, we looked for an AD who truly wanted to be a Florida Gator. We've met some wonderful people along the way during our search. But there was one person from the very beginning who had everything we were looking for. Our new athletic director exhibits strong leadership in everything he does. He's had a wealth of experience at excellent universities, including as an athletic director in the SEC. He was voted the 2015-16 Athletic Director of the Year by NACDA, and ^ most importantly, he and his family have embraced the Florida Gators. It's my distinct pleasure to introduce the next athletic director for the Florida Gators, Scott Stricklin, his wife Anne and his daughters Abby and Sophie. Welcome, Scott, to the Gator Nation. (Applause).

SCOTT STRICKLIN: Thank you. Thank you very much. Dr. Fuchs, thank you very much for this unbelievable opportunity. I can't tell you how excited and honored I am. I want to thank Manny for guiding this process the way you did, in the professional manner you did. I want to thank the search committee, the UA board, Linda, because she is a rock star, and really appreciate everything you did through this process, Linda. This was a very challenging decision for me to make the decision to leave a place that is my alma mater; it's very important to me, where I had built a lot of relationships, had a lot of family connections. And I get calls from time to time, fortunate enough, every now and then the last few years from these search firm guys calling, asking if I'd have an interest in a certain job. And I had never pursued any of those. And I finally told one here recently, I said, you know, there may be two or three jobs in the country I might be interested in leaving Mississippi State for, and those jobs may never call and that's okay, because I've got a good deal. And then this job came up. And going through this process, it became obvious to me that there's really only one job I'd leave Mississippi State for, and that is to be a Florida Gator. Okay. And really that says something really special about Mississippi State and what that place means to me, but it says something really special about the University of Florida and what this place represents.

College athletics is such a great enterprise; right? We have such a great opportunity to impact lives. And we gotta win games, but it's not just about winning games. We have to educate young people, and it's not just about educating young people. I believe our goal as being part of ^ college athletics is to create great experiences centered around our campus and getting people engaged in our universities. And for our student-athletes that's an experience based on getting great education, competing at the highest level and developing relationships that will last the rest of their lives.

As far as staff and our coaches, it's a relationship -- it's a work experience; right? And it's a work experience that hopefully is fulfilling and rewarding and one that they feel really good about because at the end of the day they're the ones impacting the experience for those student-athletes who are so important to us. And if we're successful creating a great experience for our student-athletes and successful creating a great experience for our coaches and our staff, then everyone who loves this university, the students, the alumni, the fans, everyone who makes up Gator Nation is going to have a great experience engaging back to this campus community at the University of Florida.

Florida has been creating great experiences, championship experiences for a long time: 36 national titles, 235 conference championships, 180 Olympians. The list goes on and on and on. And Florida has set a standard not just in the SEC, but across the country, as being a place that not only wins and has success on the courts and on the fields and on the tracks of this conference, but across the country. And they've developed that relationship by doing things the right way, with great integrity, and that's something I know everyone here takes so much pride in. I think it's really appropriate that we're having this press conference today, not in a football stadium, not in a basketball arena, not in any other athletic venue. We're doing it in the brand new Hawkins Center here at Farrior Hall. Talk about a place that values the overall experience for student-athletes, to have a press conference like this in a place that shows the commitment that Florida has to doing things the right way.

Much of the success that has happened here is credited to great athletes, great coaches, great staff, but certainly there's one person the last quarter century who's driven that boat, and that's Jeremy, my good friend. (Applause). Jeremy, arguably -- and it may not be much of an argument -- is the best athletic director in the history of the SEC. And I firmly believe that. And there's been some really good ones. But Jeremy has set a standard. Last several years I've gotten to know him as a colleague and then as a friend, and he's always been there with a word of advice. Sometimes it was wanted, sometimes not. But he's been a great confidant. I can't imagine how special it is to walk into an opportunity like this and have a guy like Jeremy available to seek as a resource. No one knows the Florida Gators better than Jeremy Foley does, and to have him available at a moment's notice is such an incredible resource and a great benefit. And really appreciate you, Jeremy. Thank you.

You know, the only constant in life is change. Everything changes. Nothing ever stays the same. 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. To do that we have to be innovative; we have to be creative; we have to be progressive. We have to continue to push the envelope in all the right ways to make sure Florida maintains its advantage that it's had for so many years. Everything we do is centered around supporting our student-athletes and supporting our coaches and creating a great experience for everyone who loves the Gators.

I'm so excited and I'm really challenged by the opportunity to be a part of figuring out what's next at Florida, to figure out how we take this great platform that's been developed and we keep building on it and supporting these people in a way to be really successful.

Before I take any questions, I want to introduce my family. I know Dr. Fuchs mentioned my wife, Anne, been married 23 years. We were married a year -- I'm sorry; we were married a month, we moved to Auburn, Alabama 23 years ago, and I thought that was really upsetting her life until several years later when we moved to Lexington, Kentucky when she was eight months pregnant, and I realized what a strong woman Anne is; she's got a great heart but she's my steel magnolia, so thank you, Anne, for supporting me. (Applause).

We have two beautiful daughters who take after their mother. Abby is a tenth-grader. Her sister Sophie is a seventh grader. I'm not going to forget your name. I got it. (Laughs). We're both really fortunate to have an extended family that's been very supportive and loving throughout our life, and I'm really blessed to have my parents, David and Eula Stricklin here with us today. Thank you guys for coming and being here. I want to wish my mom a happy birthday. She told me I couldn't say how old she is, but today is her birthday. (Applause).

My brother, David, is here, who's my older brother. He's a pilot for Delta, so it was easy for him to get here. He was born in Jacksonville, and my parents lived there while he was born, and so things seem to come full circle, I guess, sometimes. At least it has for the Stricklins. So with that, any questions.

Q. Scott, I guess first of all, welcome.
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Thank you.

Q. And obviously being the guy that follows the guy you mentioned, Jeremy, being one of the best athletic directors ever in the SEC, if not the best, what is that challenge like and was there any trepidation in the beginning when you went through this process with regards to that?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Not a bit. You know, for one thing, you spend any time in the SEC, you get used to challenges. I mean this is a big hairy conference, and it's, you know, every day you gotta be ready to get after it.

I admire so much what has happened here. And so it was much more excitement than it was trepidation. It's much better starting off from a position of a place that's accustomed to success, knows how to exhibit that success, have the right people in place. Jeremy's put together a great staff. I'm going to really benefit from that. I'm going to benefit from all the work he's done. So I see it as nothing but a positive.

Q. Scott, you talked about Florida being the only job that you would leave for, and I'm sure this was a tough decision for you, but for your family as well, I'm sure it wasn't easy to uproot them from Starkville.
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Right.

Q. How much of the fact that you are here and you chose to take the job is just a reflection of how special the opportunity is for you?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Well, I think it's the best job in college athletics. So it is very special. I have an unbelievable family that supports my dreams. And you know, our faith is strong, and we did a lot of praying over this. And at the end of the day this is where I feel like we were led to be, and I think the doors opened to put us here, and I'm just excited about the opportunity.

Q. And I'm sure you get asked a lot today about the facilities and how important the arms race is. How much do you feel like when you look at a school like Florida and how it attracts prospective student-athletes from the academics to just Gainesville in general, how much is having facilities up to par with everyone else important in that process of attracting student-athletes to Florida?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Well, in this day and age in college athletics, facilities are really important. They say a lot about where your priorities are. And that can be good or bad. But I do think it's important to make sure the facilities are at a level that when a prospective student-athlete comes on this campus, when your current student-athletes walk into these facilities, when your coaches and staff use those facilities, that they know that we're putting a priority in what those young people are doing, we're putting a priority in what the staff is a part of. I don't know that we need gold-plated toilets. I don't know that you have to have waterfalls in the locker room. I think you need to have really nice facilities. And I'll be honest, I think we have really good facilities here, and I think you're always trying to push forward and improve upon that. I'm really excited about the plan that Jeremy and Chip Howard and everybody else has put together, and you gotta have a roadmap for where you're going. And that's kind of in place. I'm excited about being a part of trying to execute that, make that a reality.

Q. Scott, how you doing? You're the only AD who's ever questioned our All Sports Award veracity in terms of the numbers.
SCOTT STRICKLIN: I was right, too.

Q. And you were right.
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Thank you.

Q. Can you talk just about your commitment, though, to all sports instead of -- I mean obviously football is king here, but just the commitment to all the sports.
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Well, we have, what, 500 student-athletes, 21 sports. If they're putting on an orange and blue uniform that has Gators across it, we want them to win. We want them to have every resource available to be as successful as they possibly can. I really think 25 years ago in this league that may not have been the case, and I credit Jeremy for kind of setting that tone here in Florida. I worked for a guy in Kentucky named Mitch Barnhart who's still there. Mitch followed that road map and really valued all sports and made a big commitment there.

We tried to do the same the last several years at MSU. I think that there's so much return when everybody who walks on your campus feels like they are valued equally and that they're given all the tools necessary that they can get to be as successful as possible. Winners breed winners, and the more winners you put on your campus, the better your campus is going to be.

Q. First off, congratulations.
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Thank you.

Q. Speaking on facilities, how do you plan on attacking the baseball facility? How do you plan on working with that?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Well, the master plan that has been put in place is obviously going to be kind of the framework that we work off of. I love college baseball. I've worked -- I've seen a lot of SEC baseball games from my roles in different schools in the past, and I'm really excited to work with Sully and what he's got built here. And I'm looking forward to getting more details on what the vision is from the updating the baseball stadium. I think it's a great sport; right? And Florida's been really good at it, and I think we're going to make sure this facility matches that.

Q. What are some of the challenges going forward in college athletics for generating new revenue streams, getting fans to games? I mean you were talking about moving the platform forward. What are some of your thoughts there?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Well, a lot of that, to be honest with you, I think I'm going to have to get here and be a part of the staff, get their input, get their thoughts. You know, I'm going to find a lot of things that are really good here, and I'll probably find a handful of things that I'll say why do we do it this way, and that doesn't mean it's right or wrong. It's just I'm going to see things a little differently. I'm going to have a fresh set of eyes.

I do think where college athletics is going is it's really important that you create a sense of belonging. People want to belong to something. People want to come to the games and feel like they're a part of an event. I've been to the Swamp before for games when the crowd's been rocking, and I know that that happens. I haven't been to a game here in several years. I'm looking forward to stepping back in there because I know it can be an electric atmosphere. Hey, there's no question that the people's attention span is a little shorter than it used to be. But people still want to be around something that they sense is important and that gives them a sense of belonging.

How many pictures do you see from a game on social media, people taking pictures with their friends and putting that out there. They want to share that experience with everybody, and they have to be there as a part of that in order to share it, and I think we've gotta tap into that somehow.

Q. What tone do you want to set with coaches and players in terms of expectations, off-the-field expectations? I mean all schools run into these issues. You had one there at Mississippi State recently. What's your philosophy there?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: Well, you want everybody understanding they're representing themselves, their teammates, their hometown and this university with everything they do. Everything they post, every interaction they have, everything's a reflection on all those different people who are a part of their lives.

You know, you're going to have young people mess up from time to time, and when that happens you've gotta make sure that you take steps that's going to modify behavior. Hopefully you can do that in a positive way. Sometimes you have to do it that have negative consequences.

I visited with Coach Mac yesterday. He said, you know, you have freedom of choice; you don't have freedom of consequences. And so I think that's part of it. But we've gotta -- I don't think this is a situation where you walk in and you expect something bad to happen, but if something does happen, we'll be prepared to handle it.

Q. You just mentioned social media, and I know you're very active on social media and as a former media relations guy. Just how engaging do you plan to be on that platform kind of going forward, and when are you going to change your Twitter handle?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: More importantly, when am I going to change the Twitter handle; right? We're working on that right now. You know, I don't start here, I think the earliest I would start here is November 1, so I have a little transition time to work on that and be spending the next month really working hard on that part. Kidding. (Laughs).

You know, I like social media because I think it's a way you can communicate directly with people. And there's a lot of people who care about our athletic programs. That's one of the great things about college athletics is the passion people have for what our young people and our coaches do. And the opportunity to directly community to the masses is really cool, something that didn't exist 15 years ago.

So I enjoy it. I will try to be judicious. I will try not to make Steve McLean upset or Mary upset with how I use that, but it's a great tool and it's a great way to connect.

And it's amazing how many people walk up to you -- people always like connections; right? People they don't know, they walk up and say, hey, you don't know me, but I know your cousin or I know your uncle or I live next door to your brother. In this day and age people walk up and say, hey, I follow you on Twitter. They feel a connection through social media, which is really pretty unique. I enjoy using that.

Q. There's been a couple of colleges that already pulled the trigger on firing coaches this week, and do you think that fan bases and booster bases and administrations can be a little bit too impatient when it comes to stuff like this and do you have a particular philosophy on giving coaches an opportunity to get through tough periods?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: The answer is I do think we have a lot more impatience than we used to, which is unfortunate, because the commitment that schools are making to coaches is a lot greater than it used to be, too, from a financial standpoint.

You know, if you have the right people in place, though, I'm going to be really patient if I feel like I have the right person in place. If we have the right person working with a plan, working hard, committed to this place, yeah, you can be patient with that. If you feel like you don't have the right person, you might be a little less patient. I believe we've got great coaches here now, and I think there will be a lot of opportunity to support them as they continue to have success here.

Q. Could you just discuss kind of the timeline for this process and how long you had to sit down and think about it and really when it just clicked for you, yes, this is the right move for you this time?
SCOTT STRICKLIN: I think I first got a phone call sometime in June. So it was after Jeremy announced. Some on-and-off conversation throughout the summer, and it kind of picked up somewhere in August and picked up some momentum there.

And you know, the reason for the timing, I think there's a lot of factors at play. I had some factors. UF had some factors. Candidly, Florida was kind enough to work with Mississippi State on some factors that needed to be kind of considered, which I really appreciate. I think that shows respect the two institutions have for one another and the respect the institutions in this league have for one another.

But during, you know, from about mid August on, I had a chance to really kind of focus in and figure out is this an opportunity that I was willing to look into and to pursue. And at the end of the day I decided obviously it was.

Thank you so much. Look forward to everyone being here. It's great to be a Florida Gator. (Applause).

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