After 27 years at the helm of the Florida men’s golf program, coach Buddy Alexander is hanging up his hat.
Alexander announced Tuesday morning at a team meeting that he will retire after the golf season ends, which could be soon. The Gators will compete at the Southeastern Conference Tournament starting on Friday.
If they perform well, they may get a bid in an NCAA Regional, but if they don’t, Alexander’s career will end on the greens of the Seaside Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga.
“I just thought it was a good time to do it,” Alexander said in a release. “The competitor in me isn’t crazy about the fact this isn’t one of our better teams, and you would like to fix the problem, but for me, it’s just time to go. I still have a heck of a lot of energy, but I probably don’t have the patience and the passion that I might have once had. It just felt like before the tournament was the right time.”
After the 2012-13 season concluded, Alexander, 61, began to speak with UF athletics director Jeremy Foley about the possibility of retirement. About a month ago, he met with Mike Spiegler, the UF senior associate athletics director, to further discuss retirement options.
Alexander, who has coached at Florida longer than Foley has held his athletics director position, has brought success to the men’s golf program, including eight SEC Championships and two NCAA Championships in 1993 and 2001. He has won eight SEC Coach of the Year honors and helped develop PGA Tour pros such as Chris DiMarco, Dudley Hart, Brian Gay, Billy Horschel, Matt Every and Camilo Villegas.
He is also UF’s longest-tenured coach and is second all-time, behind only Dave Fuller, who coached the baseball program for 28 seasons.
Prior to his time at UF, Alexander coached men’s and women’s golf at his alma mater, Georgia Southern, from 1977 to 1980 and men’s golf at LSU from 1983 to 1987. He started at UF in January 1988.
“I came to Florida because I thought it gave me a great chance to compete,’’ Alexander said. “You get into coaching initially because you love golf, you love kids and you love to compete.
“Life and golf are so similar. There are many ups and downs and highs and lows. Today is one of those days that stir all kinds of emotion. It’s sad that my time has come, but I’m happy everything worked out so well. I am in a good place, as will our golf program in the future.”
Alexander’s retirement will officially begin June 30, and Foley will soon begin a nationwide search for the next coach. Foley has said that Alexander is willing to help in any way he can.
“He’s one of the all-time greats,’’ Foley said in a release. “He’s had a heck of a run. There’s no better Gator than Buddy Alexander.”
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Gators coach Buddy Alexander announced Tuesday that he will retire after the season ends.
