Gators, Buckeyes share rich athletic programs
ATLANTA - When Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley hired a young, brash, even cocky Billy Donovan 11 years ago, many questioned his sanity.
"We wanted to get an up-and-comer," Foley recalled.
With Andy Geiger, it wasn't all that different when he opted to bring in Jim Tressel to direct the Ohio State football program from Division I-AA Youngstown State.
"People were saying that they don't play real football in I-AA," Geiger said. "Not so. He (Tressel) was clearly qualified."
Foley and Geiger are the architects. Heck, they may as well be called geniuses. They have built Florida and Ohio State into national powers, and Monday night's national championship game will mark the first time that two schools have played for both the football and basketball titles in the same academic year.
"It's highly unusual," said Geiger, who retired as Ohio State's athletic director in 2005 after 11 years and is now living with his wife in Port Angeles, Wash. "But people support both programs and they both have tremendous name recognition."
Mammoth athletic budgets and tremendous facilities don't hurt, either.
Geiger snagged Thad Matta from down the road at Xavier one year before retiring. The other candidates he interviewed were Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings and Rice's Willis Wilson.
Let's be honest. There's no way that Stallings or Wilson were getting Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook to Columbus. Those guys probably would have been playing for Skip Prosser at Wake Forest right now if it weren't for Matta.
Foley's hiring of Urban Meyer was a no-brainer after he went 22-4 in two seasons at Utah and became the hottest name in the business.
"The number one reason why this has happened is because of the commitment on both ends," Meyer said via the phone on Sunday afternoon before leaving to return to Atlanta for the national title contest. "Both schools also have a terrific talent base and a great area to draw from."
Meyer would know. He got his master's degree from Ohio State.
"The commitment is there to having the best athletics program in the country," Donovan said. "Not just football, basketball, baseball, but also the women's side — volleyball, swimming, tennis."
While Donovan has been is considered a hero in Gainesville, it hasn't always been that way. In fact, there were plenty of fans who questioned whether he would be able to get it done after the Gators failed to even reach the Sweet 16 from 2000-05.
However, the 41-year-old Donovan has changed his approach and it's paid dividends. Instead of continuing to rack up McDonald's All-Americans as he had done in his early days with the Gators, he opted to go the route of recruiting lower-profile players who came in with a chip on their shoulder.
Now the Gators will try and become the first school since Duke (1991-92) to win back-to-back national titles.
"Jeremy had a vision to hire an unknown like Billy Donovan," Meyer said. "Maybe he is somewhat of a genius."
Matta, 39, whose previous stops were at Xavier and Butler, has made Donovan's old approach work to perfection. He took over a program on probation from the Jim O'Brien Era and promptly went 81-21 in three seasons.
"He has so much energy and has obviously had success everywhere he's been," Geiger said. "Thad blew us away with his energy."
Foley, meanwhile, started as an intern in the ticket office more than 30 years ago and worked his way all the way to the top. In fact, on his wall in his office sits five business cards on top of one another — each of the five positions he has held in his progression at Florida.
"He's the best," Florida assistant Donnie Jones said. "He's very similar to Billy. They have the same kind of passion."
"Jeremy's top of the line," said Geiger, who will watch Monday night's game from the comfort of his living room. "I don't think we are geniuses. I think we're fortunate to work in places that get things done."
It wasn't that long ago (Jan. 8) that Florida hammered Ohio State on the gridiron, 41-14. The next day, Oden and his teammates lost a road game to Wisconsin.
There haven't been any losses for the Buckeyes since. In fact, bumps in the road have been a rarity for either program these days.
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