Todd Golden thanks Gary Condron, UF donors for support: ‘We need a lot more’
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In this era of collegiate athletics, building a championship team doesn’t just require a staff with the recruiting and coaching acumen to sign and develop the right players. It takes a village of donors to fund the roster, particularly in football and men’s basketball.
The Florida Gators had multiple donors step up last year to help Todd Golden’s staff put together a championship-caliber team that won the program’s first national title since 2007, the SEC Tournament championship and 36 games, which tied the school record from 2014.
Following Florida’s halftime celebration at the spring football game Saturday, Golden took the time to thank several donors for their contributions to the program after he was asked about Gary Condron recently donating $1 million to UF men’s basketball.
“Gary’s been incredibly impactful on our success. I’m pretty sure, for football, baseball. He’s done a lot for all these different programs,” Golden said. “Gary deserves a ton of credit for the success, because players are incredibly important.
“And he, guys like Hugh Hathcock, Anita Zucker, the list goes on and on. John Frost, Kevin Coleman, there’s a ton of people. John Williams. I don’t want to leave anybody out. Scott and Stephenie Bryan. At this point in college athletics it’s the lifeblood.”
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UF was able to bring back starters Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard, both of whom entered the NBA Draft, for their senior seasons and added a pair of impact transfers in Alijah Martin and Rueben Chinyelu, who joined Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh in the frontcourt.
Clayton, Martin and Richard formed the best backcourt in America, with Clayton earning first-team All-American honors and the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award. Richard was named to the All-Tournament team at both the Final Four and the SEC Tournament.
The press release for Condron’s $1 million donation said that he hopes his additional commitment will inspire other donors who have been heavily involved with the Gators but hesitant to give to NIL. UF must now reload in the portal and try to bring back Condon and Haugh.
“Gary gave us a great gift – and the reality of it is we need a lot more. We need a lot more to retain our players,” Golden said. “We have a good problem right now. We have a lot of great players in our program that we need support and retain, and we need to get a couple guys. But we’re incredibly grateful for their support and what they do for us. I appreciate you asking that question, too.”
