Ranking the Top 5 Current Florida Gator Head Coaches

Well Florida Gator fans, there’s only sport left in the 2022-2023 academic year that is still playing. The baseball team has a real chance to win the National Championship and that got me thinking: where would Kevin O’Sullivan rank among current Florida Gator head coaches?

All stats in this article are taken directly from the official Florida Gators’ website. The coaches were ranked only on what they have accomplished at the University of Florida and only what they have accomplished as the head coach of their program.

Here are my Top 5 Florida Gator head coaches (and one honorable mention) of the present day.

Honorable Mention: Mary Wise 

If you don’t watch Florida Gator volleyball, you might want to start tuning in. Mary Wise just finished her 32nd season as the head coach of the Gators. She’s won 25 SEC Regular Season Championships to go along with 12 tournament titles. She is a 15-time SEC Coach of the Year and 3-time AVCA Division I National Coach of the Year. She has 8 Final Four appearances in the NCAA Tournament and has gone undefeated in SEC play a staggering 13 times.

The one thing holding Mary Wise back from being higher on this list is the absence of a national title. She has built this program from the ground up to become one of the best volleyball programs in the country every year. If she can win a national championship at Florida before her time is up, she will cement an all-time great legacy as the Florida Gators volleyball coach.

5. Bryan Shelton

If you need an idea of just how good the Florida Gator athletic department is, look no further than Bryan Shelton coming in at number five on this list. June 8th marked 11 years for Bryan Shelton as the Florida Gators’ Men’s Tennis Head Coach. In that time, Shelton has won 3 SEC Regular Season titles and 2 tournament titles. He has been named SEC Coach of the Year on 4 occasions and won the National Championship in 2021. Oh, and he’s never missed the NCAA tournament as Florida Gators’ head coach.

4. Kevin O’Sullivan

As of the time of writing this article, Kevin O’Sullivan is one win away from the CWS Finals and 3 wins away from his second national title with the Florida Gators baseball team. But for now, Coach Sully has 8 CWS appearances to go along with 6 SEC Regular Season titles and 2 tournament titles. He has been named SEC Coach of the Year 3 times and won the 2017 National Championship. For now, Sully sits fourth on this list but could soon be moving his way up the standings.

3. Tim Walton

Tim Walton became the Florida Gators Softball Head Coach in 2006 and has dominated ever since. He won back-to-back National Championships in 2014 and 2015. He has led the Gators to 11 WCWS appearances. He’s won 8 SEC Championships and has been named SEC Coach of the Year 5 times. He was also named to the 2015 NFCA DI Coaching Staff of the Year. It’s safe to say that this softball program would be nowhere near where it is today without Tim Walton at the helm.

2. Mike Holloway

Mike Holloway gets an advantage because not only does he coach track & field AND cross country, he also coaches both the men’s and women’s teams for both sports. That’s technically four different teams that Holloway coaches, but he’s proven he can win.

Holloway has 12 National Championships to his name. He also has 84 single-event national titles. He is a 16-time SEC Champion, and there are currently six collegiate records that his teams have set that have yet to be broken. Mike Holloway has taken on a lot at the University of Florida, but he has succeeded in every head coaching role they’ve put him in.

1. Roland Thornqvist

If I’m being honest, I’m not a huge fan of tennis, so I was unaware of what Thornqvist was doing for the women’s tennis program at UF. But his accolades speak for themselves. He has won the national championship on four occasions and been to the final four 11 times.

His teams have won the SEC Regular Season Title in 11 of his 22 seasons as head coach. They’ve also been crowned queens of the SEC Tournament on 10 occasions. He has been named SEC Coach of the Year 5 times and won the 2011 ITA National Coach of the Year award. There is no current head coach at the University of Florida better than Roland Thornqvist.