Florida Gators: Is it time to move on from Scott Stricklin?
By Will Thomas
![Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen talks with athletic director Scott Stricklin after the win against the Florida Atlantic Owls at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville Fla. Sept. 4, 2021. The Gators beat the Owls 35-14. [Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun]Flgai 090421 Game50 2](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F28dac7c8ff01b7b47b2c00bf48cbc5f26fcc42596524a9dd9b110280a64032b0.jpg "Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen talks with athletic director Scott Stricklin after the win against the Florida Atlantic Owls at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville Fla. Sept. 4, 2021. The Gators beat the Owls 35-14. [Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun]Flgai 090421 Game50 2")
Florida Gators fans who have been accustomed to greatness, championships, and domination over rivals have been left with some disappointing feelings over the past couple of years. In football, UF has lost its winning streaks over Tennessee and Kentucky, begun spiraling against UGA and hasn’t won the SEC since 2008.
In basketball, Florida has only made the NCAA Tournament twice since 2017, making the Elite Eight five years ago and losing in the second round in 2019.
With new NIL rules, it feels as if Florida has fallen even farther back than they were before. Yes, the Gator Collective does great work, and Hugh Hathcock has promised Gators that it will turn around, but it feels like every other week another elite recruit goes down to Coral Gables for the higher paycheck.
There’s been one constant in Gainesville during all their struggles over the past 5-6 years: AD Scott Stricklin.
Florida Gators have been treading water with Stricklin
Before taking the UF job in 2016, Stricklin was the AD for Mississippi State. This is one of the reasons why Dan Mullen came in as head coach in 2018, as he already had a relationship back at MSU.
Despite the short-term success that Mullen brought, there have been more negatives than positives during Stricklin’s tenure. He seemingly turned a blind eye when complaints of former women’s basketball coach Cam Neuberger came out regarding racial comments and abuse towards players and didn’t make a change until too late.
He is also yet to provide Florida fans with the athletic success that they are used to seeing. Running a school like Florida while being content with Mississippi State-level results is not a good combination.
He let Mike White, former Gator basketball coach, stick around for a few years too long given the on-court production, and it hasn’t been apparent that he’s willing to invest the funds into UF’s big sports that other schools do.
Unless big changes come to Scott’s philosophy in the next year or two, it might be best for Florida athletics to move on and find a new athletic director.
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