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98-527: While the University of Florida's men's basketball team first took the court in 1915, the program did not receive much support from the university for several decades. The basketball team did not have a permanent home court with adequate seating capacity until the Florida Gymnasium opened in 1949, and did not hire a full-time basketball coach until Norm Sloan in 1960, and did not play in a modern arena until

196-606: A 10–15 record in games played in March. After a disappointing 2021-22 season in which Florida did not earn a berth in the NCAA tournament, White left to become the head coach at Georgia . On March 18, former San Francisco head coach Todd Golden was named Florida's new head basketball coach. The Florida Gators have won two NCAA national championships, which is tied for 9th all-time among Division I schools. The Gators won two national championships in 2005–06, and 2006–07 under Billy Donovan. That

294-544: A 7,000-seat multi-purpose arena and served as the home court of the Florida Gators men's basketball team and other UF indoor sports programs for over thirty years, acquiring the nickname of "Alligator Alley" during that time. The Stephen C. O'Connell Center replaced the Florida Gym as the university's main indoor facility for intercollegiate sports upon its opening in 1980. The old gym was gradually repurposed for use by

392-562: A key leader within the SEC, he worked to impose a uniform set of rules and standards for academic eligibility for SEC athletes. Appalled by the under-the-table payments to amateur college athletes that were prevalent at the time, he advocated the grant of scholarships to athletes which would become the grant-in-aid of other university athletic programs and as mandated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in

490-542: A postseason tournament invitation during his tenure, as tournament fields were smaller at the time and only conference champions were assured of NCAA bids. Nonetheless, according to Florida historian Norm Carlson, Sloan "elevated the Gators basketball program from a seldom competitive program and built the grass roots." Sloan left Florida after failing to receive the support of then athletic director Ray Graves , and took over as head coach at his alma mater North Carolina State after

588-409: A respected assistant under North Carolina's Dean Smith , succeeded Bartlett in 1973–74. Lotz's Gators peaked with a 17–9 overall record and a fourth-place conference finish (10–8 SEC) in 1976–77, but trailed off to consecutive last place conference finishes in 1978–79 and 1979–80, leading to his dismissal. The modern era of Florida basketball began in 1980, when the team moved into their current home,

686-476: A row from 2005 to 2007. Though the automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament is given to the conference tournament winner, the SEC declares the team with the best record in the regular season the "official" conference champion. The Gators have won a total of seven official (regular season) SEC championships. Norm Sloan won the first one during the 1988–89 season, and Billy Donovan has won the other six, including

784-575: A wider audience, including the use of radio. During his time in Washington, D.C., he also served a term as the national president of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. The Florida Board of Control selected Tigert as the third president of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida in 1928. He assumed leadership of the university during an extended period of economic crisis in the state of Florida. When

882-485: The 2004–2005 NCAA tournament . They knocked off the No. 13 seed, Ohio in the first round, but lost to No. 5 seed Villanova in the second round. The 2005–06 team began the season unranked and went on a 17–0 winning streak for the best start in school history, surprising many with a young (four sophomores and one junior) squad following the graduation of David Lee and the departures of Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson to

980-562: The 2006–07 basketball season ranked as the preseason No. 1 in both major media polls, a first for the Gators. The Gators locked up the SEC Championship relatively early in the 2006–07 season and were in possession of a 24–2 record before going on a late-February 1–3 skid that mirrored their 0–3 run a year earlier. For the second season in a row, the losses in February would be their last. Florida closed out Kentucky on Senior Night to end

1078-639: The 2013 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as the No. 3 seed in the South Region. Florida defeated the No. 14 seed Northwestern State 79–47 in the first round, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen after soundly beating the No. 11 seed, Minnesota , 78–64. The Gators then defeated Florida Gulf Coast , No. 15 seed, in the Sweet Sixteen 62–50. But once again, their run ended in the Elite Eight, this time against fourth seeded Michigan , who handily defeated

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1176-489: The Florida Legislature reinstituted co-education in 1947. The university suddenly had more students than its available housing and classroom space could serve. Tigert resigned as university president in 1947, worked as an educational consultant to the government of India as a member of its University Education Commission, and taught philosophy at the University of Miami until 1959. Tigert served as president of

1274-629: The Gators were the No. 7 seed in the West Region after losing in the 2012 SEC men's basketball tournament semifinals to Kentucky, finishing with an overall record of 23–10. Florida defeated the No. 10 seed, Virginia , and the No. 15 seed, Norfolk State , to advance to the Sweet 16 in Phoenix. They defeated No. 3 seed Marquette in an upset to advance to the Elite Eight, but their run ended when they were defeated by

1372-611: The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 , Florida was already suffering from the after-effects of the 1920s land boom and bust , as well the devastating aftermath of two major hurricanes in 1926 and 1928. The common thread of the nineteen years of Tigert's administration was doing more with less. Faculty salary cuts were common; Tigert himself never drew his full authorized annual salary of $ 10,000. Among Tigert's many significant reforms, he decentralized

1470-453: The NBA in 2015. Todd Golden became the Gators' head basketball coach in March 2022. The college basketball season begins in early November, and the non-conference portion of the schedule typically runs until the end of the calendar year. The Gators usually compete in a cross-regional tournament against other top programs, schedule a game or two against other quality opponents in Gainesville or on

1568-633: The NCAA tournament , and were selected as the No.1 overall seed, and were placed in the South Regional. The Gators' school record win streak reached 30 as they defeated their first four tournament opponents by double digits, finally breaking through in the Elite 8 with a 62–52 win over Dayton to advance to the Final Four as the only remaining No.1 seed. In the national semifinals, Florida faced Connecticut , which had been

1666-417: The O'Connell Center . Despite being only 30 years old, Florida Gym had not aged well. By the mid-1970s, Florida was the only basketball program in the SEC without a modern arena. The university built the O'Connell Center (which quickly gained the nickname "The O'Dome") as the new home for all of the university's indoor sports programs, and it proved to be a boon across several sports. The new facility improved

1764-524: The U.S. Commissioner of Education in 1921, and he served for seven years during the administrations of Harding and Calvin Coolidge . As commissioner, he was an energetic advocate of education reform and greater educational opportunities for all classes of Americans, and he traveled widely and spoke often to virtually any group interested in education. In particular, he took an interest in rural education, and advocated innovative ways to impart public education to

1862-469: The University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance (HHP) in the following years, with a series of renovations and rebuilding projects converting most of the interior space into modern classrooms, laboratories, offices, and other educational facilities by the mid-1990s. The center of the gym still features a basketball court which is used for small assemblies and HHP classes and activities. The University of Florida's first indoor sports facility

1960-757: The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee . He was admitted to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity ( Tennessee Alpha Chapter) and a standout athlete in baseball , basketball , football and track . His time at Vanderbilt overlaps with Grantland Rice . As a senior, Tigert was honored as an All-Southern halfback for the Vanderbilt Commodores football team. In his final game, he scored

2058-508: The 19-year coaching tenure of Billy Donovan. After the season, Donovan accepted an offer to coach the NBA 's Oklahoma City Thunder . He would leave Florida as far and away the winningest coach in program history. He led the Gators to 14 NCAA tournament appearances, six SEC regular season titles (four outright, two shared) and four SEC Tournament championships–in all three cases, more than all other coaches in program history combined. On May 7, 2015, former Louisiana Tech head coach Mike White

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2156-620: The 1930s resulted in Gator basketball teams using the New Gym for over 20 years. Design work on a larger gymnasium was started in the early 1940s by university architect Rudolph Weaver , but the project was postponed during World War II . Plans were completed by Guy Fulton soon after the war, construction began in 1947, and the Florida Gymnasium finally opened in 1949 at total project cost of $ 1.6 million. The university became co-educational about

2254-455: The 1965–66 season. Tommy Bartlett succeeded Sloan as head coach, and his first season as head coach in 1966–67 was the program's most successful to date. The Gators with a record of 21–4, finishing 2nd in the SEC to Tennessee, who beat them twice during the regular season. Florida was ranked in the AP top 10 for the first time, earning a number 10 ranking on January 9, 1967, and then a number 8 ranking

2352-552: The 2006 title game, the Gators again eliminated the UCLA Bruins in the national semifinal. Florida defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes 84–75, in a rematch of a game they won 86–60 three months earlier, to become the first team since the 1991–92 Duke Blue Devils to win back-to-back national championships and the first college team ever to repeat as national champions with the same starting line-up. The University of Florida also has

2450-479: The 2006–07 season in which the Gators also won the SEC Tournament championship and NCAA national championship, and three in a four-year span from 2011 to 2014. The 2013–14 squad became the first team in SEC history to have an 18–0 regular season conference record. Florida has appeared in the NCAA tournament 24 times. Their combined record is 48–20. However, their appearances in 1987 and 1988 have been vacated by

2548-470: The AP. They beat No. 14 seed South Alabama and No. 11 seed Milwaukee to advance to the Minneapolis regional. There, the Gators defeated the No. 7 seed Georgetown Hoyas and upset the No. 1 seed Villanova Wildcats 75–62 to avenge their loss in the previous year's tournament and move on to their second Final Four under Donovan. Florida defeated the upstart George Mason Patriots , the No. 11 seed from

2646-449: The Final Four by SEC rival South Carolina, 77–70. Florida earned invitations to four straight NCAA tournaments and won at least one game in each appearance under White (not counting the 2020 NCAA tournament, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic ). However, after 2017, they earned a decreasing number of wins each season, were never a serious contender for SEC championships, and had

2744-512: The Gators began consistently competing for conference titles in the 1990s. The modern University of Florida (UF) was created when the Florida Legislature passed the Buckman Act of 1905, which consolidated four predecessor institutions into a new flagship university that opened its new Gainesville campus in 1906. The school sponsored its first varsity basketball team during the 1915–16 school year under head football coach C. J. McCoy , who led

2842-474: The Gators finally moved to the Florida Gymnasium (also known as Alligator Alley) during the 1949–50 season. In December 1932, the University of Florida joined the Southeastern Conference as one of its 13 charter members. While the school would find athletic success in some sports, Florida's basketball team would spend most of the first half-century of SEC play in the bottom half of the standings, as

2940-450: The Gators finished the season higher than fourth in the league on only four occasions over the program's first fifty years in the SEC (1933 to 1983). Until 1960, the university continued the practice of assigning coaches from other sports to lead the basketball team, including head baseball coaches Brady Cowell , Ben Clemons and Sam McAllister , head football coach Josh Cody , and football assistants Spurgeon Cherry and John Mauer . This

3038-410: The Gators to the school's first-ever SEC regular season title in 1989 behind center Dwayne Schintzius. However, after a drug scandal involving Maxwell and an NCAA investigation for various rules violations, Sloan and his coaching staff were forced to resign on October 31, 1989, just days before the start of the 1989–90 season. Former Tennessee coach Don DeVoe was brought in as the interim coach, but

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3136-413: The Gators were eliminated by Penn State in a quarter-final game of the 2009 National Invitation Tournament . In 2010, the Gators received an invitation to the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as a No. 10 seed, but they were eliminated in the first round by No. 7 seed BYU in double overtime. In the 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament , the Gators were the No. 2 seed in

3234-549: The Gators were the No. 5 seed in the East Rutherford Regional of the 2003–2004 NCAA tournament , but were upset in the first round by the No. 12 seed, Manhattan. The 2004–05 team had the distinction of being the first to garner an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, when it defeated Kentucky in the 2005 SEC tournament championship . The Gators subsequently received the No. 4 seed in the Syracuse Regional of

3332-509: The Gators were upset in the second round by Auburn . Florida received the No. 5 seed in the East Regional of the 2000 NCAA tournament , and swept through the region by beating Butler , Illinois , Duke , and Oklahoma State to reach the Final Four. In the national semifinals, Florida knocked off North Carolina to advance to their first NCAA national championship game, before losing to heavily favored and top seeded Michigan State . Over

3430-425: The Gators' starting five were drafted among the first ten picks in the first round of the 2007 NBA draft : Al Horford (third), Corey Brewer (seventh) and Joakim Noah (ninth). Taurean Green and Chris Richard were both selected in the second round. Also during this season, Donovan passed Sloan as the winningest coach in school history. In the aftermath of the Gators second NCAA championship, Donovan accepted

3528-419: The Gators, 79–59. The Gators became the first team since the expansion of the tournament in 1951 to lose in the Elite Eight in three consecutive seasons. Florida is the only program in the nation to have advanced as far as the Elite Eight in each of those seasons from 2011 to 2013. The 2013–14 Gators finished the SEC regular season with an 18–0 record in conference play, the first SEC team to ever accomplish

3626-454: The NBA. The trio accounted for 60 percent of their offense in 2005. The team faded late in the regular season, losing its last 3 games in February and entering the postseason with a 24–6 record, yet still managed to win its second consecutive SEC tournament championship . The Gators entered the 2006 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as a No. 3 seed with a 27–6 record, and ranked No. 10 by

3724-558: The NCAA making their official record 45–18. They were NCAA National Champions in 2006 and 2007. * Vacated by the NCAA The NCAA began seeding the tournament with the 1979 edition . Florida Gymnasium The Florida Gymnasium (commonly known as the " Florida Gym " and formerly nicknamed " Alligator Alley ") is a historic building located on the campus of the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville . It opened in 1949 as

3822-464: The No. 4 seed, Louisville , 72–68, after blowing a 65–54 lead with 8:14 remaining in the game. The 2012–13 Gators finished the regular season with an overall record of 24–6, and won the SEC Championship with a conference record of 14–4. During the regular season, Billy Donovan notched his 400th career win as the head coach of the Gators over Missouri . After losing in the final of the 2013 SEC men's basketball tournament to Mississippi , they entered

3920-470: The No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region of the 2002 NCAA tournament . They were knocked off in the first round by No. 12 seed Creighton. The 2003 Florida Gators finished the season 24–7, and received the No. 2 seed in the South Region of the 2003 NCAA tournament . The Gators easily defeated Sam Houston State in the first round, but were then upset by No. 7 seed Michigan State in the second round. In 2004,

4018-471: The No. 6 seed in the West Regional of the 1999 NCAA tournament . The Gators defeated Penn and Weber State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Phoenix, where they were upset by No. 10 seed Gonzaga . Donovan took his Gators on a memorable run during his fourth season in Gainesville. The Gators finished the season 29–8, including winning a share of the SEC championship. In the 2000 SEC tournament , however,

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4116-487: The O'Connell Center opened in 1980. Early highlights included the program's first postseason appearance in the 1969 National Invitation Tournament with the Gators' first All-American Neal Walk , a run to the Sweet Sixteen during its first NCAA tournament appearance in 1987 under head coach Norm Sloan, and another surprise tournament run to the 1994 Final Four under head coach Lon Kruger . However, consistent success

4214-634: The Southeast region after winning the SEC Championship, after being defeated in the 2011 SEC men's basketball tournament championship game to Kentucky , and finishing with a 26–7 record. They played their two first games in Tampa, Florida. In the Second Round of the Tournament, Florida beat No. 15 seed, UC Santa Barbara Gauchos . In the third round, the Gators defeated the No. 7 seed, the UCLA Bruins to advance to

4312-565: The Sweet Sixteen in New Orleans. On March 24, 2011, the Gators got some revenge by defeating the No. 3 seed, BYU , who had knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament the year before, by a score of 83–74 in overtime to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2007. Their tournament run ended there as they were stunned in the Regional Final against No. 8 seed Butler in overtime. In the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament ,

4410-648: The United States, Tigert taught at the Methodist-affiliated Central College—now known as Central Methodist University —in Fayette, Missouri , and, at the age of 27, was appointed president of Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1909. That same year, he married the former Edith Jackson Bristol. Tigert later received an appointment as a professor of psychology and philosophy at

4508-401: The University of Florida awarded him an honorary degree , a doctor of letters , during its 1953 centennial celebration, and renamed its main administrative building, Tigert Hall , for him in 1960. Tigert died in Gainesville, Florida on January 21, 1965; he was 82 years old. He was survived by his wife Edith, their son and daughter, and five grandchildren. As a fitting final tribute to

4606-516: The University of Florida for nineteen years, longer than any of the other presidents of the university. During his term, the university awarded its first doctoral degrees in 1934, a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was installed in 1938, and total student enrollment grew from 2,162 in 1928 to over 7,500 in 1947. As university president, he was responsible for significant and lasting academic, athletic and administrative reforms. In recognition of Tigert's long service as its president through depression and war,

4704-603: The University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, where he did work on psychology in advertising. While there, Tigert also served as the athletic director from 1913 to 1917, the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coach in 1913, 1916 and 1917, the Wildcats women's basketball coach from 1911 to 1915 and again from 1916 to 1917, and the Wildcats football coach in 1915 and 1916. President Warren G. Harding appointed Tigert as

4802-595: The Washington, D.C. regional, by a score of 73–58 in the national semifinals in Indianapolis . On April 3, 2006, the Gators defeated the UCLA Bruins 73–57 in the national final to win the school's first men's basketball NCAA Championship. The University of Florida Athletic Association then purchased the floor used in Indianapolis for the Final Four, and installed it in the O'Connell Center . The Gators returned all five starters from their 2006 championship team to begin

4900-553: The Year, and senior guard Casey Prather was named to the All-SEC First Team. The 2014–15 Gators finished the season 16–17, 8–10 in SEC play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They did not participate in a postseason tournament for the first time in 17 years. The woeful season included losses to in-state rivals Miami and Florida State, and three losses to SEC champion Kentucky. The Gators' 63.7 points-per-game were their lowest in

4998-443: The basketball program in several ways, including helping to convince Norm Sloan to return to Gainesville after a successful 14-year tenure at North Carolina State which included an undefeated season in 1972–73 and an NCAA championship in 1974. Sloan later said that he'd always enjoyed his first stint at Florida, and had always been more than willing to return if the university built a more modern arena. Sloan's second stint at Florida

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5096-430: The basketball team to a 5–1 record against small colleges and local athletic clubs. The program went on hiatus during World War I and next took the court during the 1919–20 school year, though without an officially designated coach. Head football coach William G. Kline was assigned to coach basketball during the 1920–21 school year, when the team moved into their new home at recently completed University Gymnasium . By

5194-476: The basketball team until the school could afford a more permanent structure. However, funds soon became scarce with the coming of the Great Depression, and university president John J. Tigert 's main focus was the financing and construction of Florida Field , the new football stadium which opened in 1930. Plans for a larger brick gymnasium were drawn up in 1940, but construction was delayed by World War II, and

5292-470: The center of the building and is still used for College of Health and Human Performance activities and small events. In 2008, Florida Gymnasium became a contributing property in the University of Florida Campus Historic District which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 1989. John J. Tigert John James Tigert IV (February 11, 1882 – January 21, 1965)

5390-463: The central arena, offices in the building housed the university's athletic administration along with the College of Physical Education, Health and Athletics. The court at the Florida Gym also became the site of student class registration at the beginning of each semester. As a sports venue, the Florida Gym soon gained a nickname: Alligator Alley. It could be an intimidating place for opposing teams because

5488-522: The clock to force overtime, where the Gators eventually prevailed. They lost to Duke in the national semifinal, 70–65. The next year, they returned to the NCAA tournament, but were eliminated in the first round. Kruger's final season in 1995–1996 resulted in a losing record, and he left to coach at Illinois . Florida's Athletic Director, Jeremy Foley , looking for a young coach with a proven track record, hired 30-year-old Billy Donovan , then at Marshall , as Kruger's replacement. His recruiting prowess

5586-496: The defending SEC champions struggled to a 7–21 record. In September 1990, the NCAA sentenced the program to two years' probation for numerous major violations dating back to 1985. Their 1987 and 1988 NCAA Tournament appearances were erased from the record books due to Maxwell being retroactively declared ineligible for secretly taking money from a sports agent, and Sloan was slapped with a five-year show-cause penalty that effectively ended his coaching career. The most severe penalty in

5684-469: The distinction of being the only school in NCAA history to have won both the basketball and football national championships in the same season (won the football championship in January 2007, which was the 2006 season) and the only school in NCAA history to win a combined four national championships in three seasons (football in 2006 and 2008 and basketball in 2006 and 2007). Following the 2006–07 season, three of

5782-472: The engineering program and manage all applications for federal funding. Van Leer also chaired the advanced planning committee setup by Tigert. Tigert was also instrumental in the organization of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which the University of Florida joined as one of the thirteen founding institutions in December 1932. Tigert subsequently served two terms as SEC president (1934–1936 and 1945–1947). As

5880-452: The feat, after the SEC re-expanded to an 18-game regular season schedule prior to the 2012–13 season . In doing so, the Gators won their seventh SEC championship, and their third in four seasons. The Gators then beat the Kentucky Wildcats for the third time in the season to claim their fourth SEC Tournament championship title. By claiming the SEC tournament , the Gators earned an automatic bid to

5978-587: The first points netted all season against rival Sewanee . Tigert graduated from Vanderbilt with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1904; he was selected for Phi Beta Kappa , and was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar , the first from the state of Tennessee, along with teammate Bob Blake . While at Oxford University in Oxford, England, he completed his Master of Arts degree at Pembroke College in 1907, and he continued to participate in competitive university sports, including cricket , rowing and tennis . After returning to

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6076-404: The first two rounds before losing to eventual-NIT champion George Washington in the quarterfinal. White's second Gator squad was the best of his tenure, as Florida went 24–7, finished 2nd in the SEC standings, and earned a #4 seed in the 2017 NCAA tournament . They reached the Elite Eight on a three-point buzzer beater by guard Chris Chiozza to beat Wisconsin, then were upset one game short of

6174-528: The following seasons. Led by the program's first All-American in center Neal Walk (the only Gator to have his number retired) and forward Andy Owens , the 1968–69 Gators received a bid to the 1969 National Invitation Tournament , the first postseason appearance in program history. After Walk and Owens went on to play professional basketball, Bartlett could not sustain the level of talent in recruiting, and team performance declined thereafter, with four straight losing campaigns leading to his dismissal. John Lotz ,

6272-508: The head coaching position for the NBA's Orlando Magic on May 31, 2007. On June 3, however, it was disclosed that Donovan asked to be released from his contract with the Magic, which was announced when he was reintroduced as the Gators head coach on June 7. The Gators failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and 2009. The Gators were eliminated by UMass in the semi-finals of the 2008 National Invitation Tournament . The following season,

6370-464: The last team to defeat them back on December 2, 64–65. The Gators got off to a quick start and built a 16–4 lead, but the Huskies were able to catch up and led 25–22 at halftime in a defensive battle. The Gators continued to struggle to score in the second half and suffered their third (and worst) loss of the season, 53–63. The team's program-best 36–3 record resulted in many individual honors. Billy Donovan

6468-416: The long run, however, was a reduction to 13 total scholarships in 1991–92 and 14 in 1992–93, which affected the program for several years. Draconian as those penalties were, the NCAA said that it would have banned the Gators from postseason play and live television in 1990–91 had Sloan still been coach. Lon Kruger , former head coach at Kansas State , took over the program before the 1990–91 season. Despite

6566-465: The mid-1920s, the basketball team had outgrown the small brick University Gymnasium, which had been designed to serve as a student recreation center and had very little spectator space. A larger wooden structure was built directly adjacent to the University Gym in 1928. While it was officially known as "Building R", it was commonly called the "New Gym". The New Gym was intended to be a temporary home for

6664-412: The next five years the Gators went to the NCAA Tournament every year, but they found themselves upset victims five straight times in the first or second round. In the 2001 NCAA tournament , Florida received the No. 3 seed in the South Region. They defeated No. 14 Western Kentucky in the first round, but they were then upset by the No. 11 seed, Temple . The following year, in 2002, the Gators received

6762-460: The next week on January 16. Florida notched the school's first 20-win campaign on the strength of winning their final eight games of the year by an average of 19 plus points per game. Ironically at the time the SEC would only permit the league champion to play in the postseason. Having finished second, they lost to league champion Tennessee twice and were not invited to a postseason tournament. Bartlett's squads finished fifth and third in conference play

6860-456: The president of Kentucky Wesleyan College ; and worked as a professor, sports coach and administrator at the University of Kentucky . Tigert gained his greatest national prominence as the U.S. Commissioner of Education from 1921 to 1928, and the third president of the University of Florida , from 1928 to 1947. He is remembered as a forceful advocate for American public education, intercollegiate sports and university curriculum reform. Tigert

6958-477: The probation he inherited, Kruger slowly brought the team to increased success and reached the NIT semifinals in his second year as coach. In 1993–94, the pieces fell into place for Florida to have their best season ever at that time. Behind Andrew DeClercq and Dametri Hill , the Gators went to their first Final Four following a dramatic victory over UConn where Donyell Marshall missed two free throws with no time on

7056-474: The program, 34-year-old Citadel head coach Norm Sloan was hired as Florida's first full-time head basketball coach for the 1960–61 season. Sloan's first team notched the Gators' first winning conference record in eight years, and his second repeated the feat. Overall, his Florida squads compiled a record of 85–63 in six seasons during the 1960s, including the Gators' first regular season win over long-dominant Kentucky in SEC play. Sloan's Gators did not receive

7154-407: The regular season 26–5, and won their third straight SEC tournament championship with relative ease, beating Georgia , Ole Miss , and Arkansas 77–56. Florida entered the 2007 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, and they advanced to the Final Four after wins in the regional against No. 5 seed Butler and No. 3 seed Oregon . In a rematch of

7252-497: The road, and play their annual game against in-state rival Florida State before the conference portion of the schedule begins. The 18-game Southeastern Conference (SEC) slate usually tips off around the beginning of the calendar year. The schedule consists of home-and-home games against five SEC teams mixed in with single games against each of the other eight SEC teams followed by the conference tournament . Florida has built in-conference rivalries with Kentucky and Tennessee since

7350-523: The same time, and the old University Gymnasium became the Women's Gymnasium while the "New Gym" was converted into a rehearsal space for the university's marching bands . The Florida Gymnasium was the second large indoor venue on campus after the University Auditorium and was the only space large enough to host the entire student body, which numbered about 10,000 when the facility was completed. Around

7448-402: The seating was very close to the court and, when full, the noise level was "deafening". However, it also had few amenities and no air conditioning, and the court had to be shared by all UF indoor sports programs. Over the years it came to be seen as small and outdated; observers likened it to a "dismal and dreary old high school gym" rather than a major-college arena. By the early 1970s, Florida

7546-450: The two worst during his tenure at Florida. The Gators posted a two-year win–loss record of 27–32, missing postseason play entirely in his first season, and losing in the first round of the NIT in his second season. These were the last losing records that the Gators suffered until 2014–15. In his third season, however, Donovan's Gators finished the season with an overall record of 22–9, and earned

7644-541: The university budget to the level of the individual academic colleges, allowing them to set their own spending priorities. The University Council, composed of the president, the registrar and the college deans , retained final approval authority. Tigert also established the faculty senate, the Institute of Inter-American Affairs and the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. One of his most influential reforms as president

7742-486: The war years by making the university campus, dormitories and class rooms available for the training of U.S. Army Air Force flight crews . Veterans began to return to school with support from the GI Bill , and by the fall term of 1946, over seventy percent of the University of Florida's 7,000 students were returning World War II veterans. Contributing to the shortage of facility space was the influx of new female students when

7840-559: The years to follow. Like his predecessor, Albert A. Murphree , Tigert was elected president of the National Association of State Universities , serving from 1939 to 1940. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, students began to withdraw from the university in large numbers to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. The financial impact on the university had the potential to be devastating, but Tigert navigated

7938-475: Was the University Gymnasium , a narrow brick building that opened in 1919. The school's men's basketball team used the University Gym for practices and games, but since the building had been designed primarily for student recreation, there was little room for spectators. By the mid-1920s, the university had decided that it was not suitable for hosting intercollegiate sports programs and a larger gymnasium

8036-399: Was an American university president, university professor and administrator, college sports coach and the U.S. Commissioner of Education . Tigert was a native of Tennessee and the son and grandson of Methodist bishops . After receiving his bachelor's degree, he earned his master's degree as a Rhodes Scholar . After completing his education, Tigert taught at Central College ; served as

8134-465: Was born in Nashville, Tennessee , in 1882, the third son of a Methodist Episcopal minister , John James Tigert III , and his wife, Amelia McTyeire Tigert, the daughter of Methodist Bishop and Vanderbilt University co-founder Holland N. McTyeire . Tigert received his primary education in the public schools of Kansas City, Missouri , and Nashville, and earned his high school diploma, with honors, from

8232-448: Was common practice at most SEC schools apart from Kentucky well into the 1940s and 1950s, and some of Florida's coaches had experience in the sport, as Cody had previously coached basketball at Clemson and Vanderbilt and Mauer had previously coached basketball at Kentucky and Tennessee . However, none of these part-time coaches were able to build the Gators into consistent contenders in conference play. In hopes of breathing life into

8330-413: Was easily the most successful period in program history until the late 1990s. That success was in large part because Sloan persuaded several top Florida high school basketball players—such as Gainesville's Vernon Maxwell and Brandon 's Dwayne Schintzius —to stay in-state instead of attending schools with more basketball tradition. After four years of rebuilding, Sloan led the Gators to the 1984 NIT, which

8428-680: Was elusive, and the Gators often found themselves in the bottom half of the SEC basketball standings. The trajectory of Florida's basketball program changed with the hiring of head coach Billy Donovan in 1996. After having made five NCAA Tournament appearances and having won only one regular season SEC championship and zero SEC tournaments in 78 seasons of basketball before his arrival, the Gators won seven SEC regular season championships and four SEC tournament championships, appeared in 14 NCAA Tournaments, reached four Final Fours, and won back-to-back national championships ( 2006 and 2007 ) during Donovan's 19 seasons in Gainesville before he left to coach in

8526-425: Was evident early, bringing future NBA star Jason Williams with him from Marshall and having early recruiting classes with future NBA players Mike Miller , Udonis Haslem , and Matt Bonner , among others. The Gators made the NCAA tournament every year from 1999 to 2007, a nine-year streak that is the school record, and the sixth-longest NCAA Tournament streak. Donovan's first two seasons at Florida proved to be

8624-480: Was gradually adapted to other uses during the 1980s. The basketball court and adjoining areas were used for student recreation and occasional events and assemblies while a series of minor renovations modernized the facilities of the re-named College of Health and Human Performance . The gym continued to be the site of class registration until the early 1990s, when an automated phone system and then online registration made in-person registration obsolete. The Florida Gym

8722-460: Was hired to coach the Gators, succeeding Billy Donovan. White played point guard at Ole Miss and later served as an assistant there for seven seasons. He is a native of the state of Florida and had led Louisiana Tech to three straight conference titles. In his first season at the helm, he led Florida to a 21–15 record and a berth in the NIT Tournament, defeating North Florida and Ohio State in

8820-640: Was named the SEC's Coach of the Year for the third time. Senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin was named Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year , the SEC Tournament MVP, and the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA South region. Senior center Patric Young was named the Defensive Player and Scholar-Athlete of the Year, junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith was named Sixth Man of

8918-410: Was needed. The university's funding declined with the onset of the Great Depression , making the construction of a new brick gymnasium cost prohibitive. Instead, a wooden facility officially dubbed "Building R" but commonly referred to as the "New Gym" was built directly adjacent to the University Gym as a temporary home for the school's indoor sports teams. However, an ongoing lack of funds throughout

9016-468: Was no longer needed for student recreation after a modern fitness center was constructed directly behind the gym in 1990 and the much larger Southwest Recreation Center opened across campus in 1994. The gym underwent a major renovation and repurposing project in the mid-1990s that removed the last of the original bleachers and converting much of the interior space into modern classrooms, laboratories, offices, and meeting rooms. The basketball court remained at

9114-409: Was only the second postseason appearance in school history. They would make the NIT again in 1985 and 1986, reaching the NIT semi-finals in 1986. In 1987 , shooting guard Vernon Maxwell led the team to the school's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, advancing all the way to the Sweet 16. Sloan coached the team to 20-win seasons and NCAA tournament appearances again the following two years, and led

9212-455: Was president and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Florida Gators sports program generally, and football in particular. He was responsible for the construction of the university's first and only permanent football stadium, Florida Field , in 1930. He borrowed $ 10,000 to begin construction of the stadium, and then raised $ 118,000 to pay the construction costs of the 22,800-seat facility. Tigert also hired Blake R. Van Leer as Dean to expand

9310-471: Was the first time any team had won back-to-back national championships since Duke did it in 1991–92. In addition, the Gators became the first school to ever win a national championship in football and basketball in both the same calendar year and the same academic year (the Gators' football team defeated Ohio State in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game ). The Gators have won four SEC Tournament championships, all under Billy Donovan , including three in

9408-431: Was the founding of the new University College as an academic division within the University of Florida in 1935. The college was modeled on the general education college at the University of Chicago , and administered the freshman and sophomore-year liberal arts education of undergraduates before they were accepted to the university schools or colleges that administered their academic majors . The college's stated purpose

9506-431: Was the only school in the Southeastern Conference without a modern basketball facility, which hampered the recruiting of top players and held back the growth of its long-mediocre basketball program. The university initiated plans to build a large multi-purpose sports arena in the mid-1970s, and the O'Connell Center opened in December 1980 as the new home for all of UF's indoor athletic programs. The Florida Gymnasium

9604-463: Was to "stimulate intellectual curiosity" and "encourage independent work", with new liberal arts requirements in biology, English language and literature , the humanities , logic , mathematics , physical sciences and social sciences , and thereby counter the growing trend toward " trade school " education at the university level. As a former university athlete and coach, Tigert took a particular interest in athletics-related policy issues while he

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