For our second installment of this summer’s Alligator Awards, four of our writers go head-to-head and debate which Florida coach deserves to be named alligatorSports Coach of the Year. Track and field coach Mike Holloway, football coach Dan Mullen, softball coach Tim Walton and men’s tennis coach Bryan Shelton are all contenders.
Bryan Matamoros: Coaching one team and having it perform consistently at a high level throughout the season is difficult. So coaching two teams — at the same time — must be impossible, right?
Not for men’s and women’s track and field coach Mike Holloway, who had both teams ranked in the top 10 nationally for the indoor and outdoor portions of the 2018-19 campaign.
The men’s team took home the NCAA Indoor Championship for the second-straight year and fifth time since 2010. Holloway joined UTEP’s Ted Banks and USC’s Dean Cromwell as the only men’s coaches in Division I history to win five NCAA Indoor titles.
UF was also the runner-up at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, falling 10 points short of first-place Texas Tech. That was Florida’s 23rd second-place finish in the last 34 NCAA Championships.
Its indoor and outdoor performances earned it the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively, in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rankings.
The women’s team remained consistent throughout the year, too.
It’s sixth-place showing at the NCAA Indoor Championships made UF the only program with top-10 finishes by both its men and women.
The Gator women also finished sixth in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. They are one of two teams to come in the top six each of the last three years, the other being USC.
Holloway’s ability to manage two track and field teams — and have them both competing on the national stage — earns him Coach of the Year.
Follow Bryan Matamoros on Twitter @bryan_2712 and contact him at bmatamoros@alligator.org.
Joseph Salvador: Dan Mullen came to Gainesville expecting to return UF to its former glory in the college football world. He accomplished that goal in just one season, and for that reason he is my pick for Coach of the Year.
Mullen took over a football program that had a 4-7 record in the nation’s most difficult conference and ended his first season 10-3. The campaign was capped off with a dominant 41-15 win over No. 7 Michigan in the Peach Bowl.
It’s not like UF had the best recruiting class of 2018, either. It was ranked No. 14 in the nation and just fifth in the SEC. I think that Mullen’s coaching was the most significant thing that the Gators had going for them last season, and it will be what carries this team for years to come.
Follow Joseph Salvador on Twitter @JSalvador_14 and contact him at jsalvador@alligator.org.
Jack Braverman: Despite being marred with inconsistencies for nearly the entire season, the Gators softball team still managed to make a deep playoff run, capturing a second-consecutive SEC Tournament title, cruising through NCAA Regional play unscathed and arriving in Oklahoma City as a potent threat to bring home a national championship.
Finding success in what may be seen as an off-year is a testament to the superb leadership of head coach Tim Walton, my pick for Coach of the Year.
The 14-year veteran’s knack for grinding out wins was on full display earlier this summer, when the Gators rode the arm of senior ace Kelly Barnhill and the slugging of senior Amanda Lorenz all the way to the Women’s College World Series.
Dan Mullen, my close runner-up, may very well be the biggest celebrity of the bunch, and deservedly so. Football is its own entity in the realm of Florida sports, and Mullen’s commitment to developing excellence has not gone unnoticed.
But while Dan Mullen manufactured a top-15 recruiting class last year and took a team with blossoming NFL potentials to a New Year’s Six Bowl victory, Tim Walton led an SEC-worst offense and one star pitcher to college softball’s biggest stage.
I think the choice for Walton is clear.
Follow Jack Braverman on Twitter @jack_braverman and contact him at jbraverman@alligator.org.
Dylan O’Shea: Bryan Shelton is undoubtedly the alligatorSports Coach of the Year.
Shelton brought the usually underperforming men’s tennis program to rare heights in 2019. At season’s end, Shelton had coached his squad to a 25-4 record. No other UF men’s tennis team had reached that mark since the 1999-2000 season.
This year, Shelton coached his team to a third-place tie in the SEC Tournament and a regular season conference championship. More importantly, he led the squad to just its third NCAA Final Four in program history.
Shelton did this with only three upperclassmen on the entire roster.
During the team’s best season in almost two decades, Shelton courted a roster of inexperienced underclassmen, headlined by freshman and team captain Sam Riffice. Under Shelton’s coaching, Riffice upset the No. 2 player in the country in JJ Wolf and went further in the NCAA singles tournament than any freshman in the country.
The other coaches on this list fed off of historically successful programs, upperclassman presence and top-notch recruiting.
Shelton did not come away with a bowl win like Mullen, an NCAA Indoor Championship like Holloway or a conference tournament championship like Walton. He did something even more special:
He took a young team and changed the culture. He is the Coach of the Year, and I believe he’ll be a nominee for this award for many seasons to come.
follow Dylan O'Shea on Twitter @dylanoshea24 and contact him at doshea@alligator.org.
UF track and field coach Mike Holloway led the men’s team to the indoor national championship and the women’s team to a top-10 ranking.
