Florida baseball head coach Kevin O’Sullivan released a public statement alongside athletic director Scott Stricklin apologizing for an incident that occurred pregame before Florida’s matchup against East Carolina Sunday.
A video surfaced of O’Sullivan yelling several expletives at Coastal Carolina administrators after officials decided to push back the Gators’ elimination matchup against the Pirates by an hour.
“This afternoon I met with Kevin O'Sullivan and told him that his actions prior to yesterday's NCAA Tournament game fell well short of expectations of how Gators treat people,” Stricklin said in a statement. “One of our department's core values is respect, and Coach O'Sullivan's unacceptable actions failed to demonstrate that. On behalf of Florida Athletics, I want to personally apologize to everyone impacted - including NCAA representatives, Coastal Carolina and their staff, East Carolina and their team - as well as to Gator Nation.”
Below Stricklin’s apology included a statement from O’Sullivan.
“Prior to yesterday's NCAA Tournament game against East Carolina, I let my emotions get the best of me and channeled that energy in a way I should not have,” he said. “I want to sincerely apologize for my actions and behavior to the entire NCAA Regional field of Coastal Carolina, East Carolina and Fairfield, the NCAA - including site representatives Rick French and Mark Scalf - as well as all of Gator Nation. I did not represent the University of Florida to the appropriate standard yesterday and take full responsibility for that, and promise to learn from this experience and be better moving forward.”
O’Sullivan was asked about the moment after Florida’s 11-4 loss to East Carolina Sunday and dismissed the question.
“I don't want to address that right now," O'Sullivan said, adding that he spoke to officials following the matchup. "I handled it properly at the end of the game."
Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall addressed the event and called O’Sullivan a “bully” during a post-game press conference, criticizing his treatment of each team’s staff.
“As a coach, it’s our job to mentor young kids, and the way he treated the two site reps, the way he treated our associate AD, the way he treated our field crew is absolutely unacceptable,” Schnall said. “This is a national champion coach who thinks he can come in here and try to bully people around.”
Two of Florida's games were pushed back over the weekend. UF was originally slated to play against Fairfield at noon Saturday, and the game was pushed back to 3 p.m. A similar instance occurred the following day when Florida’s elimination game against the Pirates was pushed back an hour.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is working his fifth semester at The Alligator and returns as the Summer 2025 assistant sports editor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with his cat Pete and researching niche professional athletes (shoutout Jacquizz Rodgers).
