To celebrate its ten-year anniversary of national college baseball coverage, D1Baseball surveyed several staffers to determine the highlights of the past decade since its inception. D1Baseball surveyed a total of seven of their staffers.
A Decade of Excellence
Six of the seven staffers selected Florida, while the lone outlier, Eric Sorenson, chose Vanderbilt. Additionally, three of the seven nominated Florida's Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan as the best coach of the past decade, making him the only coach to receive multiple nominations.
The Florida program is certainly no stranger to recent success and awards, but to earn a title as prestigious as the top program of the decade is unlike any other. In a decade that included six trips to the College World Series, playing host for eight regionals, and two national championship appearances, in one of which Florida prevailed, one could argue that no other program was within striking distance of taking the award.
This run of excellence also included dozens of MLB Draft selections and numerous current MLB stars. Since O'Sullivan's arrival in Gainesville, Florida has continuously competed for SEC Championships, runs during the SEC Tournament in Hoover, and multiple individual player awards, all of which have been specifically ignited within the past ten years.
Will this sustain?
Florida was recently ranked 11th in the Perfect Game Preseason Poll. While that may sound like a strong ranking to begin a season, for the Gators it is the lowest preseason ranking they have had since 2020. Florida, along with O'Sullivan, is more familiar with starting the season within the top ten of the polls, a feat that Perfect Game didn't feel the Gators deserved.
While Florida hasn't won the grand prize—an NCAA Baseball Championship—since 2017, the Gators have remained at the top of the SEC, which has cemented itself as the best conference in baseball. Even in down years, like the past season, Florida still somehow finds success. In a year when Florida had to win their final few games to even remain eligible for the NCAA Tournament, the Gators ended up as one of the final four teams still standing in Omaha—a run that included escaping elimination by winning three straight games and sweeping Clemson in one of the most hostile college baseball environments in the nation.
Recent performances have demonstrated to fans that Florida and O'Sullivan show no signs of slowing down. The Gators consistently find ways to win, especially in the games that matter most. This level of grit is intangible and likely stems from O'Sullivan's coaching strategies, which have propelled the Florida program to these heights.