Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: Who is the coach of the Florida Gators?
This list of Florida Gators head football coaches includes those coaches who have led the Florida Gators football team that represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators currently compete in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Twenty-six men have served as the Gators' head coach, including four who served as interim head coach, since the Gators began play in the fall of 1906.[1] In December 2017, Dan Mullen was hired as the Gators' latest head coach.
The 2010 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2010 college football season. The Gators competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. The season was the sixth and final campaign for coach Urban Meyer, who led the Gators to a 37–24 Outback Bowl victory over coach Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions, and an overall win-loss record of 8–5 (.615).
Zook's third and final Florida–Florida State game as the Gators' coach started a six-game series winning streak for the Gators. With Florida's hiring of head coach Urban Meyer (who now coaches Ohio State) after Zook's departure, the Gators again rose to national prominence, winning the program's second and third national championships in 2006 and 2008, while Florida State struggled to regain the level of success for which the program was known during the 1990s.
In 1923, White accepted the athletic director position at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. While at Florida, he also coached the Florida Gators basketball team from 1923 to 1925, the Gators track and field team in 1924, and the Gators baseball team in 1925. During his stints as coach, he led the Gators basketball team to a 7–17 record in two seasons, and the Gators baseball team to 3–6 in a single season.
The 1961 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1961 college football season. The season was Ray Graves' second as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team, and the Gators posted their only losing season in Graves' ten years as their coach. Graves' 1961 Florida Gators finished with a 4–5–1 overall record and a 3–3 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), placing sixth among the twelve SEC teams.
Gator Greats are listed below in alphabetical order within each sport. Those listed include athletes from nine men's sports and nine women's sports. This list also includes "Distinguished Letterwinners", who are former Gators athletes who achieved distinction after graduation, as athletic coaches or administrators, professional athletes, or in public service or other career activities; and "Honorary Letterwinners," who were not former Gators athletes, but who distinguished themselves by their significant contributions to the success of the Florida Gators sports teams, including former championship Gators coaches. Distinguished Letterwinners and Honorary Letterwinners are listed below in alphabetical order in separate sections near the end of this article.
Strong was hired as defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators before the 2003 season. Florida head coach Ron Zook was fired midway through the Gators' 2004 season, but continued to coach until the bowl game; Strong served as interim coach of the Gators for one game, the December 2004 Peach Bowl. Florida lost the game, 27–10, to Miami. When Urban Meyer was hired as Florida's head coach, Strong was the only assistant coach retained from Zook's staff.
The Florida Gators men's tennis team was started by head coach Dennis K. "Dutch" Stanley in 1932. In eight years leading the Gators' tennis program, Stanley compiled a team win-loss record of 54–12 (.818), still the best coaching record in the history of the program as measured by winning percentage. Stanley, who also served as the head coach of the Gators football and track teams, left the university in 1940, but later returned as the first dean of its College of Health and Human Performance.
The 1985 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was the second for Galen Hall as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team, having coached the 1984 Gators' final eight games as their interim coach. Because of NCAA probation terms handed down the previous year, Hall's 1985 Florida Gators were ineligible to win the Southeastern Conference (SEC) title, receive a bowl bid, or appear on live television.
The 2009 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2009 college football season. The Gators competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. They were led by fifth-year head coach Urban Meyer, who coached the Gators to a first-place finish in the SEC East, a 51–24 Sugar Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats, and an overall win-loss record of 13–1 (.929).
After graduating from Kansas State, Cowell coached for two years at Iola High School in Iola, Kansas. In 1924, he moved on to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he accepted a position as the head coach for the freshman Florida Gators football team, and later as an assistant coach for the Gators varsity from 1928 to 1932. Cowell served as the head coach of the Florida Gators basketball team from 1925 to 1933, compiling an eight-season win-loss record of 83–96. He also coached the Florida Gators baseball team from 1927 to 1933, tallying a seven-season record of 61–65–2.
The 1978 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Doug Dickey's ninth and last year as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The 1978 Florida Gators finished with a 4–7 overall record and a 3–3 Southeastern Conference (SEC) record, tying for fourth among ten SEC teams. After a disappointing 1977 season, Dickey had been under pressure to shake up his coaching staff, and he decided to abandon the run-oriented wishbone offense his teams had used for several seasons in favor of a more pro-style system. Former Florida quarterback Steve Spurrier, who had lived in Gainesville since wrapping up his NFL career in 1976, was tapped by Dickey to be the Gators' quarterback coach, his first coaching job.
Mauer later served as the head coach for the Army Black Knights men's basketball team of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, for four seasons from 1947 to 1951, and the Florida Gators men's basketball team of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, for nine seasons from 1951 to 1960. His four Army Cadets teams finished 33–35 (.485); his nine Gators teams compiled a record of 98–102 (.490). While coaching the Gators basketball team, he also served as an assistant coach for the Florida Gators football team under head coaches Bob Woodruff and Ray Graves.
The 1969 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1969 college football season. The season was the tenth, last, and arguably most successful season for Ray Graves as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Graves' 1969 Florida Gators finished their regular season with an overall record of 8–1–1 and an SEC record of 3–1–1, placing fourth among the ten SEC teams. Florida concluded the year with a Gator Bowl victory over SEC-champion Tennessee. Afterwards, Graves resigned from the head coaching position to become the university's athletic director, and was replaced by Tennessee head coach Doug Dickey.
The modern post-war era of the Florida Baseball program began with head coach Dave Fuller assuming control in 1948. Fuller was originally hired as a physical education instructor in 1946, and also served as an assistant football coach under four different Gators head coaches. Ultimately, he became the longest-serving Gators head coach in any sport, and won more games than any other Gators coach, after leading the Gators baseball team for twenty-eight seasons. Fuller brought stability and consistency to the program, and his Gators teams won SEC championships in 1952, 1956 and 1962, and made appearances in the NCAA tournament in 1958, 1960 and 1962. His final record was 557–354–6 (.611). Florida 
The 1970 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1970 college football season. The season was Florida alumnus Doug Dickey's first of nine as the new head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Dickey had been the starting quarterback for the Gators under coach Bob Woodruff in 1952 and 1953, and had previously served as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers before returning to his alma mater in 1970. Dickey's 1970 Florida Gators finished with a 7–4 overall record and a 3–3 record in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), tying for third among ten SEC teams.
After graduating from high school, Alvarez accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and played for coach Ray Graves and coach Doug Dickey's Florida Gators football teams from 1969 to 1971. During Graves' final season as Florida's head coach in 1969, Alvarez was one of several talented second-year Gators known as the "Super Sophs" who led the team to its then all-time best record of 9–1–1. At the close of his sophomore season, he was honored as a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and a consensus first-team All-American, and he caught a nine-yard touchdown pass to provide the Gators' margin of victory in their 14–13 upset of the Tennessee Volunteers in the 1969 Gator Bowl. 
The 1989 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Galen Hall's sixth and final season as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team; Hall was replaced as the Gators head coach after five games by his defensive coordinator, Gary Darnell. Hall and Darnell's 1989 Florida Gators posted an overall record of 7–5 and a Southeastern Conference (SEC) record of 4–3, tying for fourth place in the ten-team SEC.
The 1933 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1933 college football season. The season was Florida alumnus Dennis K. Stanley's first as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Stanley, who had been a standout end on the great 1928 Gators team, assembled an all-Florida-alumni coaching staff and led the Gators to a 5–3–1 revival following two consecutive losing seasons in 1931 and 1932.
Heath was an assistant coach for the Florida Gators swim team from 1988 to 1989. After graduating from the University of Florida, Heath first worked as a salesman, before he coached swimming at Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Florida, for six years, and thereafter at Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, Florida. He is married to Sherri-Lee Schricker, who was a member of the Florida Gators swim team at the University of Florida from 1984 to 1987, and they have two children. Their son Grady will swim for the Florida Gators beginning in 2015–16.
During most of Florida baseball's early existence, the new university's athletic association suffered from a lack of financial resources, and few of the head baseball coaches were full-time baseball coaches. William G. Kline was also the athletic director, head football coach, and head basketball coach; James L. White was Florida's athletic director and head basketball coach; Brady Cowell, Ben Clemons and Lewie Hardage were assistant football coaches; and Sam McAllister was the head basketball coach and an assistant football coach. A notable exception was Lance Richbourg, who was a Florida alumnus and a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Boston Braves and others, and led the Gators to an impressive 39–21 overall record (a .650 winning percentage) in 1922, 1923 and 1926. McAllister was the Gators' last pre-World War II coach, and he returned from military service to lead the Gators baseball team again in 1946 and 1947.
Florida Gators History of the University of Florida List of College Football Hall of Fame inductees (coaches) List of Florida Gators football players in the NFL List of Florida Gators football seasons List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members University Athletic Association
The 1946 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1946 college football season. The season was Raymond Wolf's first of four as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Wolf's first Gators squad was composed mostly of college freshmen and returning World War II veterans who had not played football in several years. The winless 0–9 season was also the worst win–loss record in the history of Gators football to date, surpassing the winless 0–5 record of the overmatched 1916 Gators. Wolf's 1946 Florida Gators finished 0–5 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), placing last of 12 SEC teams. Despite the winless record, the Gators developed the seventh best passing attack in the nation, with end Broughton Williams leading the nation in receiving. Harold Griffin led the nation in punt return average.
McAllister later served as the head coach of the Florida Gators men's basketball team of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, from 1937 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1951, leading the Gators to an overall record of 119–96 in ten seasons. McAllister was also the head coach of the Florida Gators baseball team from 1940 to 1942 and from 1946 to 1947, and compiled an overall record of 40–56–4 in five seasons. During his stints as the head coach of the Gators' basketball and baseball teams, he also served as the line coach and assistant for the Florida Gators football team under head coaches Josh Cody, Tom Lieb and Raymond Wolf from 1938 to 1942, and again from 1946 to 1950, while doubling as the head coach of the Gators' freshman football team known as the "Omelette Squad."
The modern University of Florida was created in 1905, when the Florida Legislature passed the Buckman Act, consolidating four predecessor institutions to form the "University of the State of Florida." Ten years later, the university sponsored the first Florida Gators men's varsity basketball team that played its first season during the 1915–1916 school year under head coach C. J. McCoy, who was also the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. The first Gators basketball team compiled a 5–1 record, but the following three seasons were canceled during and immediately after World War I. The team was restarted for the 1919–20 season without a professional coach, though the Gators did have a new venue—the newly built University Gymnasium. Head coach William G. Kline, who also coached the Florida Gators football team, led the Gators basketball team from 1920 to 1922.