We won three football national championships and two basketball national championships under his watch as well. How many universities did either of those during his career? A small handful. No other did both.
UF football will be here long after Foley retired thanks in large part to his excellent leadership. Of course mistakes were made. But on balance, he has few if any peers in his profession.
Respectfully Theo, he inherited Spurrier. He hired Zook. Meyer had a relationship with Bernie Machen from Utah and that was a major driver in that hire. He hired Chimp. He hired Mac. The three NCs were from the coach he didn't hire and the coach his president hired.
In basketball, Lon Kruger took us to our first Final 4 in 1994 (I think) but again, Foley inherited him, just like he inherited Spurrier. Foley gets full credit for hiring Billy Donovan and Mike White.
I don't hate Foley.
He is not above criticism though. Fair, valid criticism is warranted. The Spurrier retirement caught him flat-footed. He was surprised and unprepared. When Bob Stoops didn't jump at the chance to leave Oklahoma (where he had just recently won a NC), Foley had no plan. Zook had no HC experience. Zook was a terrible hire.
Then there was the whole esophageal spasms mess when Addazio was basically acting HC. That was a mess with Meyer quitting, then coming back for a zombie year, then quitting again.
Chimp, like Zook (and unlike Spurrier or Meyer) had no head coaching experience. No record of taking a bad program and making it into a winner (like Spurrier did with Duke and like Meyer did with Bowling Green and Utah).
USCe's Muschamp is a better HC now than the version we got. He has learned from some of his mistakes at UF. We are the ones still paying for those mistakes. UF is not a place for on-the-job HC training.
Foley kept Muschamp too long. I don't care how badly injured we are. Our scout team should be able to beat Georgia Southern. 4-8 is unacceptable.
The Mac hire looked better on paper. At least he was a HC at Colorado State and had some success with that team. But for the issues with Grier, (and Chimp's recruiting issues) the script may have gone differently. Maybe. But, it looks like another miss.
The facilities...well, Pell built them up and Spurrier inherited a good situation. When Foley became AD, our facilities were pretty good. That was 25 years ago. Meyer was the driving force behind the new "front door" to the stadium and his wins and great recruiting kept the pipeline of great players coming in DESPITE the facilities. That's when Foley needed to spend. We were winning. Fans were happy. Facilities were outdated. Instead, he decided facilities didn't matter. Recruits were shocked and dismayed to see how bad our stuff was compared to our competition.
Google image Alabama's facilities. Clemson built an athlete's village with sand volleyball, mini golf, and laser tag. Their recruiting has been phenomenal. UCF...yes, THAT school in Orlando that isn't even in a power 5 conference...is copying Clemson AND putting in a lazy river.
And their HC took a team that went winless two years ago and is now undefeated with the top offense in the country. And he inherited a pro-style system and put in a completely different Oregon style system.
I don't hate Foley. He isn't a lowlife or a POS. However, he has made mistakes and he is not above criticism for those mistakes.
Alex.