Looking back now, several weeks later, the conversation still gives Scott McCabe chills.
He was eating dinner across from Jeremy Foley, his best friend of nearly 20 years, and asked Foley to reflect on a storied career that comes to an end today.
Jeremy, what’s your favorite memory?
“Here’s a guy who’s been arguably one of the most successful athletic directors in college sports history,” McCabe said, “and without hesitation, he looked at me, and a little grin came on his face. And he said: the people.”
The coaches, the players, the members of his staff, Foley said. Their careers, ones he has watched blossom. Their families, ones Foley has seen grow. And the enormous effect he has had on each of their lives, from hiring them as young, talented employees to watching them become established authorities in their respective sports.
“Pretty cool,” McCabe said. “Pretty special guy.”
Foley’s success at UF has been documented. You can measure most of his accomplishments in numbers — there are the conference titles, the national championships, the winning percentages and the recruiting rankings.
But some of his accomplishments can’t be measured in numbers: the ones that will impact UF for years to come.
Foley’s career began when he was in his early 20s, when he trekked down from New Hampshire to Florida and applied to work at UF’s ticket office, eventually working his way to the head of the entire University Athletic Association.
Now, Foley leaves on top. He has taken a school that was barely relevant in its own conference and turned it into a national powerhouse, hiring most of the people who have turned that dream into a reality.
“The bar’s been set,” he said Monday, his final day in the office. “I promise you that’s not where it was 40 years ago, and I’m very blessed to have been a part of that.”
So, as Foley officially retires today, what will his legacy be?
-Ian Cohen, Sports Editor
On his last day, Foley reflects
It began with the Boston Red Sox.
That was the team New England native Jeremy Foley wanted to work for, dreaming of the general manager position. He even spontaneously purchased tickets with friends for the team’s fourth game in the 2004 American League Championship Series, vowing to his friends that their presence would change the fate for the eventual World Series champions.
“We all raised a beer and said right here, this moment, right here, right now, we’re going to change the course of Boston sports history,” said Scott McCabe, a longtime friend of Foley’s ever since the two met at Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox, 20 years ago. “That was one of my favorite Jeremy stories.”
It was even something he brought up with former UF men’s basketball coach Billy Donovan, an equally avid New York Yankees fan, right after Donovan was hired.
“‘Billy, please tell me you’re not a Yankees fan,’” Foley recalled, laughing. “‘If I had known that, I would not have hired you.’”
But instead of the Red Sox, Foley became general manager of the Florida Gators, working his way from intern to athletics director. He helped bolster a program he admits wasn’t nationally renowned into arguably one of the most decorated programs in college athletics, and he supported coaches and players through championships, defeats and changes.
McCabe remembers him on a New Hampshire hike years ago, checking his phone to see how the Gators teams were doing and sending messages to his coaches. It was typical, he said, for the man who gave so much to the program.
“He was so incredibly passionate about Florida Gators sports,” McCabe said. “And in that role, had the opportunity to influence so many people’s lives.”
Today marks Foley’s first day of retirement from the University Athletic Association, which he described as an emotional start to the next chapter of his game of life.
“I’ve had an unbelievable career here,” he said. “I feel blessed.”
• • •
Foley first announced his departure nearly five months ago.
“It seemed like this day would never come,” he said Monday, his final day in office. June 13, he added, seems like a hundred years ago.
But then it began: the last milestones of a 40-year tenure with the UAA. It was on his mind standing under the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium goal post about two weeks ago, watching the clock tick down at his final home game as athletics director. This is the last time I’ll stand here, he thought, as he watched the Gators clinch a 40-14 victory against the Missouri Tigers.
“When those things become reality, it’s strange,” he said. “It’s emotional because I care. It’s my life’s work.”
He has stood there under the goal posts for several years, fist pumping and celebrating with the rest of the sideline. Where he’ll stand to watch the games now is part of what Foley called “a great unknown.”
“I haven’t figured that out yet,” he said with a laugh. “This is all new to me.”
Some things about Foley’s next chapter are a given. He’ll stay on as UF’s emeritus athletics director, helping his successor, Scott Stricklin, maneuver the program he built. He’ll travel, already imagining his first Christmas at his second home in Vermont. And he will continue to cheer for the Gators. That is a guarantee.
“You can bet I’ll be watching,” he said. “There’s no bigger fan than me.”
-Emily Cochrane, Editor-in-Chief
Jeremy Foley speaks during Rally In The Swamp at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Aug. 21, 2016.
