Scott Stricklin reveals he has sole responsibility in hiring next Florida head coach

It’s back to the drawing board for the Florida Gators after firing head coach Billy Napier. There’s plenty of directions for the program to go now, of course, but only one man is making the decision. That’s athletic director Scott Stricklin.
On Monday, Stricklin met with reporters for a press conference following his decision to move on from Napier. There, he insisted that it’s his sole responsibility to make the next hire in football, saying, “I am. Yes.” In other words, there won’t be a search committee or the Board of Trustees making the decision on behalf of Stricklin.
None of that is to say that Stricklin will completely isolate himself in this decision. He is going to look to other administrators for advice. It’s just that it’s his final decision who becomes the next head coach at Florida.
“Yeah, I’ll use every available resource,” Stricklin said. “We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. So, I’ll be listening to a lot, taking a lot of suggestions and advice and we do have a lot of access to a lot of information. So, we’ll utilize all of that.”
Since 1996, Florida has won three national championships in football. Meanwhile, the men’s basketball team is coming off its own national championship season. That’s the standard that Stricklin has set for Florida. It’s also a standard that the football team needs to live up to in a way it never managed under Napier.
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“Obviously, we have a search that we’re gonna conduct. Obviously, that’s my responsibility,” Stricklin said. “The goal is pretty simple. We want to compete for championships, and not just compete but we want to win championships.”
This is going to be the third football hire that Scott Stricklin makes at Florida. His first two were Dan Mullen and Billy Napier. It’s an uncommon position to be in. However, it’s one that he’s embracing, looking forward to the future for the program. It also means this is a hire that needs to work.
“There’s somebody out there who can come in here and put this football program in a position where it can win championships. This search is going to be thorough. It’s going to be deliberate. Despite speculation about particular candidates or things that have already been done, we’re early in this process and it will be a very thorough process. To that end, we have engaged with TurnkeyZRG as a search consultant in this process. I think they can bring a lot of value and I’m looking forward to working with them.”
Scott Stricklin would go on to emphasize the alignment within the administration now. That’s been an issue for Florida in recent years with turnover at the university president position. Now, the hope is they can push their investment and alignment forward to thrive in the SEC and nationally.