Jeremy N. Foley (born December 1, 1952) is an American university sports administrator and former college athlete. Foley was an award-winning

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and university, universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of c ...

for the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as th ...

Division I sports program of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

located in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...

from 1992 to 2016, when he semi-retired and became an

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

athletic director focusing on fundraising for the school.Gatorzone.com
Jeremy N. Foley
Retrieved August 30, 2009. He also served as the chief financial officer of the

University Athletic Association The University Athletic Association (UAA) is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are highly selective universities located in Georgia, Illinois, Mi ...

(UAA), the private non-profit corporation that is responsible for the administration and financial management of the Florida Gators sports program.

Early life and education

Foley was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1952, and raised in

New London, New Hampshire New London is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,400 at the 2020 census. The town is the home of Colby–Sawyer College. The town center, where 1,266 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as t ...

. He graduated from the

Holderness School , established = 1879 , type = Private high school , locale = , religion = Episcopal , image = , grades =9-12, PG , head_name = Headmaster , head = R. Phillip Peck , city = Holderness , state = New Hampshire , country = USA , student ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

in 1970. He attended

Hobart College Hobart College may refer to: * Hobart and William Smith Colleges Hobart and William Smith Colleges are Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts colleges in Geneva, New York. They trace their origins to G ...

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13,26 ...

, where he played football and lacrosse, and was a member of

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and co ...

fraternity (

Delta Phi Delta Phi () is a fraternity founded in 1827 at Union College in Schenectady, New York consisting of ten active chapters along the East Coast of the United States. The fraternity also uses the names "St. Elmo," "St. Elmo Hall," or merely "Elmo" ...

chapter); he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in psychology in 1974. In 1976, he completed a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in sports administration from

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subsequ ...

Athens, Ohio Athens is a city and the county seat of Athens County, Ohio. The population was 23,849 at the 2020 census. Located along the Hocking River within Appalachian Ohio about southeast of Columbus, Athens is best known as the home of Ohio Universit ...

. He is the older brother of Navy Cross recipient and Gulf War hero Lt. Col. James Lucian Foley USMC(Ret.)of Derry, NH.

Early career

Foley started his career at the University of Florida as an intern in the UAA ticket office in August 1976. When his internship ended, Foley was hired as a full-time employee and was soon promoted to ticket manager. Two years later he was named director of ticket and game operations. After just one additional year, he became an assistant athletic director and spent the next twelve years learning every facet of Gators athletics. From 1981 to 1986, Foley was the associate athletic director for business affairs. Bill Carr was appointed Florida's athletic director in 1979 at age 33, younger than all of the then-current head sports coaches at Florida. When Carr left in 1986, Jeremy Foley was named the interim athletic director. The athletic director search committee selected Bill Arnsparger in 1987, Arnsparger had no experience as an athletic director. Foley was disappointed not to have been selected, but accepted the position of senior associate athletic director. Arnsparger resigned in 1992, and at age 39, Foley was named the Florida athletic director.

Later career

Foley served as UF's athletic director from 1992 until 2016, and was responsible for the hiring of several of Florida's most notable coaches, including

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fr ...

as the head football coach in 2004 and

Billy Donovan William John Donovan Jr. (born May 30, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He has served as head coach of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since September 2020 after previously coa ...

as the men's basketball coach in 1996. The sports program finished as the top-ranked overall program in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) during all but one year under his tenure. On June 22, 2007, Foley and the UAA signed an eleven-year employment contract "worth up to $1.2 million annually with bonuses, making him the highest paid athletic director in the country and keeping him in Gainesville until retirement age."Associated Press,
Florida's Foley agrees to country's largest AD contract
" ESPN (June 22, 2007). Retrieved August 30, 2009. University of Florida President

Bernie Machen James Bernard Machen (; born March 26, 1944) is an American university professor and administrator. Machen is a native of Mississippi, and earned several academic degrees before becoming a university administrator and president. Machen had been ...

said "Jeremy's contract is what you would expect for the best athletic director in the nation." Jeremy Foley's tenure as Florida's athletic director was generally considered successful by Gator alumni and supporters. He is most notably credited for his hiring of Meyer and Donovan who have won national championships at Florida in the two most popular intercollegiate sports. Foley's successful hires also include Becky Burleigh (the first and only coach of the fledgling

Florida Gators women's soccer The Florida Gators women's soccer team represents the University of Florida in the sport of college soccer. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They ...

program that won the 1998 national title) and, more recently, Tim Walton (whose Gators softball team won the program's first-ever national championship in 2014 and successfully defended its title in 2015). Foley has also maintained successful and long-term relationships with coaches who were hired before he became athletic director, most notably men's golf coach Buddy Alexander and volleyball coach

Mary Wise Mary Wise (born August 8, 1959), née Mary Fischl, is an American college volleyball coach, former player and author. Wise is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's volleyball team of the University of Florida. In Wise's career a ...

. Though he demonstrates a fierce loyalty to coaches who bring success to Florida, Foley also proved willing to remove unsuccessful coaches when he became convinced a change was necessary. Carolyn Peck, who led

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

to a women's basketball NCAA championship, was removed after her fifth season in Gainesville, and two-time College World Series coach Andy Lopez was fired after six seasons. While Foley's firing of football coach

Ron Zook Ronald Andrew Zook (; born April 28, 1954) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the Defensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida fro ...

midway through the 2004 season was unusual at the time, after the success of Urban Meyer's football teams, other universities have more commonly chosen to jettison football coaches mid-season in order to gain an advantage in the hiring process. Foley personally attended many athletic competitions for all sports on campus and often traveled with Florida's various sports teams for significant events. In addition to the Gators' success on the playing field, the University of Florida's is one of the few athletic programs in the nation that not only supports itself financially, but makes regular seven-figure contributions to the general fund of its university. One of Foley's responsibilities as the University of Florida's athletic director was to act as chief financial officer (CFO) for the

. In that capacity he oversaw over $180 million in capital improvements, including two major expansions of the football stadium, the addition of a multi-purpose field house on campus and new facilities for tennis, track & field, soccer, baseball, golf, softball and swimming.Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Alumni Biographies
Jeremy Foley '74
. Retrieved August 30, 2009. Jeremy Foley managed an annual budget of more than $89 million, but was particularly proud of the athletic program's academic success. "The national average for student-athlete graduation is around 76 percent," he said. "At UF, 92 percent of student-athletes graduate."

Honors & awards

Foley is an ardent runner who has competed in the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ...

. In addition to being a member of the UAA board of directors, Foley also serves on the board of directors for Gator Boosters, Inc. In 1995, Foley was the recipient of the ''Distinguished Alumnus Award'' from the Sports Administration and Facility Management Department at

. The UF Alumni Association Board of Directors named Foley an ''Honorary Alumnus'' in October 2000. From 1997 to 2002, Foley served on the NCAA Division I Management Council, the most powerful group (below the board of directors) within the NCAA. In June 2006,

Street & Smith Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...

named Foley as its ''SportsBusiness Journal'' National Athletics Director of the Year.SECSports.com,
Street and Smith's Names UF's Foley National A.D. of the Year
," press release (June 19, 2006). Retrieved August 30, 2009. The

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote and develop amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the dr ...

awarded Foley the John L. Toner Award in 2007, recognizing him as its national athletic director of the year.National Football Foundation,
NFF Announces 2007 Major Awards Recipients
press release (May 16, 2007). Retrieved August 30, 2009. In 2007, the National Football Foundation presented Foley with its annual John L. Toner Award, recognizing him as "a director of athletics who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football." Foley's alma mater, the

, a small, private, college preparatory school near

Plymouth, New Hampshire Plymouth is a rural town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States, in the White Mountains Region. It has a unique role as the economic, medical, commercial, and cultural center for the predominantly rural Plymouth, NH Labor Market Area. Pl ...

presented him with its 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award on November 28, 2007. On April 25, 2008, the Hobart College Alumni Association presented Foley with its Medal of Excellence, its highest honor, for outstanding achievements as the University of Florida athletic director, which has brought honor and distinction to his alma mater. In 2009 the United States Sports Academy awarded Foley its Carl Maddox Sport Management Award in recognition of his contributions to the growth and development of sport enterprise through effective management practices. People
" ''Sports Business Journal'', p. 36 (December 21, 2009). Retrieved October 7, 2010.

References

External links