Catching Up With Univ. Of Florida Athletic Dir Jeremy Foley

Univ. Of Florida AD Jeremy Foley

The Univ. of Florida’s JEREMY FOLEY has amassed quite an impressive résumé during his 15-year tenure as the school’s Athletic Dir. With Foley at the helm, the Gators have claimed 12 national titles, including the ’07 BCS championship sandwiched between the men’s basketball team’s back-to-back feat. The ’06 SportsBusiness Journal AD of the Year recently took a few moments to speak with Staff Writer Brad Pinkerton about current NCAA issues and his love for dogs (not Dawgs).

Last book read: “The Narrows,” by MICHAEL CONNELLY. I’m a huge Connelly fan, plus he’s a Gator.
Next DVD: “Charlotte’s Web.”
Favorite hobbies: Working out.
On your radio dial: Sirius Channel 18, The Spectrum.
Most memorable moment at UF: Too many to pick out one.
New technology you’re learning: I just got myself a Sony digital camera.

Q: Aside from championship celebrations, what has been taking up the majority of your time recently?
Foley: Putting our budget together for next year. We have to up the numbers on a couple of coaches, but that’s part of the deal.

Q: If you weren’t involved in college athletics, what would your profession have been?
Foley: When I was younger, I would’ve told you a lawyer. Now that I’m older, I’ll tell you that I would love to work with the Humane Society. Maybe save dogs, I’m a big dog fan.

Q: If there was one thing you could change about college athletics, what would it be?
Foley: I would change the fact that people spend a lot of time criticizing the profession instead of focusing on the good this profession does, especially in terms of educating young men and women.

Q: What other college programs or ADs do you admire?
Foley: GENE SMITH at Ohio State; KEVIN WHITE at Notre Dame; DELOSS DODDS at Texas.

Q: Looking at the Big Ten Network, do you see something similar in the SEC’s future?
Foley: We’ve had conversations about that, but they’re very, very preliminary. I know [SEC Commissioner] MIKE SLIVE is interested in that, but that’s all we’ve discussed, the potential. We’re going to discuss it more; whether it works or not, I have no idea.

Q: What issues concerning the NCAA will you be following in the coming months?
Foley: This [JASON] WHITE v. the NCAA lawsuit is pretty significant. I think it’s very significant and we need to pay attention to it. Obviously there’s a financial impact, but it’s more than that. It has the potential to change the way we do business for many, many years.