Titles, firings and hirings. Here are the 5 biggest Florida Gators stories of 2025

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It was a year of change and championships for Florida Gators athletics in 2025.

Florida basketball ushered in the year with a magical run to its third national title in school history, cutting down the nets on April 7 in San Antonio, Texas, after beating Houston.

There was hope that karma would carry over into the Florida football season. But three straight losses in September doomed UF, resulting in a needed change in program leadership.

As college sports continues to evolve into a transactional model this decade, Florida is still trying to adapt to changes in revenue sharing, Name, Image and Likeness deals and the transfer portal. Those changes have impacted all 19 men’s and women’s sports on UF’s campus.

Florida notched its 49th national title in school history with men’s basketball and is the only Division I program that can boast three national titles in football (1996, 2006, 2008) and men’s basketball (2006, 2007, 2025).

Here are the five biggest UF sports stories of the 2025 year.

5. Florida women’s volleyball coach Mary Wise retires after 34 years

Wise announced her retirement on February 6, ending a 34-year-run that included eight Final Fours, two national runner-up finishes and a record 25 SEC championships. Her teams made the NCAA Tournament in all 34 years.

Wise won 987 career games at UF and 1,068 wins in her career, which began at Iowa State.

One of Wise’s former assistants at UF, Marquette coach Ryan Theis, was hired to replace her on February 18. Florida went 16-12 in Theis’s first season, reaching the NCAA Tournament before falling at host SMU in the Round of 32.

4. Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan suspended, takes leave of absence

A disappointing season for Florida baseball in 2025 ended with the Gators ousted in the Conway, S.C., Regional by East Carolina, ending UF’s two-year streak of reaching the College World Series.

During the regional, Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan directed a profanity-laced tirade toward NCAA regional officials before the East Carolina game due to a change in start time. The outburst was caught on video and went viral on social media. O’Sullivan and Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin issued an apology to tournament officials after UF was eliminated. Stricklin then suspended O’Sullivan for three games for his conduct.

O’Sullivan then announced on October 22 he was taken a leave of absence for personal reasons. It was later revealed that O’Sullivan was subject to a child welfare investigation made by one of his teenage children in which no crime was committed. Florida announced on Dec. 16 that O’Sullivan is returning from his leave of absence and will coach the team during the 2026 season.

3. Florida football coach Billy Napier fired after disappointing start to 2025 season

Year four was supposed to be a breakthrough season for Florida football coach Billy Napier. Florida had won four straight to close the 2024 season with an 8-5 record and had a combined 18 starters returning on offense, defense and special teams.

But Napier’s tenure at UF took a nosedive after the Gators suffered an 18-16 home upset loss to USF at The Swamp. That started a three-game losing streak which included back-to-back losses at LSU (20-10) and Miami (26-7).

UF then upset No 9 Texas 29-21 at The Swamp on Oct. 4, but a 34-17 loss at No. 5 Texas A&M sealed Napier’s fate. Napier was fired after Florida squeaked by Mississippi State 23-21 on homecoming, finishing his UF tenure with a 22-23 record. It was the worst mark for a Florida coach since Raymond “Bear” Wolf went 13-24-2 at UF from 1946-49.

Billy Gonzales took over as interim coach and went 1-4 the rest of the way, with the lone win coming against rival Florida State at The Swamp to close the season. Florida went 4-8, missing a bowl for the second time in three years and suffering a losing season for the fourth time in five years.

2. Florida football hires Tulane’s Jon Sumrall as new football coach

Florida initially pursued Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin for the job, hoping to land the offensive mastermind who emulated Steve Spurrier. But when it became clear that Kiffin was leaning toward taking the LSU job instead, Florida turned to the next hottest coach on the market, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, who was being pursued by Auburn and Arkansas. Sumrall was hired by Florida on Nov. 30, accepting a six-year, $44.7 million contract to try to revive UF’s fortunes.

Sumrall, 43, coached Tulane through the postseason. The Green Wave beat North Texas 34-21 to win the American Conference championship on Dec. 5, clinching a College Football Playoff Berth, then lost to Ole Miss 41-10 in the CFB on Dec. 20, finishing off an 11-3 season.

While coaching at Tulane, Sumrall began to assemble his Florida coaching staff, which includes Georgia Tech’s Buster Faulkner as offensive coordinator and Kentucky’s Brad White as defensive coordinator. A former Kentucky linebacker, Sumrall has gone 43-12 in four seasons as a head coach at Troy and Tulane.

1, Florida basketball wins first national championship since 2007

With senior All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr. leading the way, Florida won its first men’s basketball national title since 2007 and third in school history.

Florida (36-4) closed the 2024-25 season with 12 wins a row, winning its first SEC Tournament since 2014. UF came from behind in four of its six NCAA Tournament games, including rallying from a 12-point deficit to beat Houston 65-63 in the national title game.

At 39, third-year Florida coach Todd Golden became the youngest coach since the late Jim Valvano in 1983 (North Carolina State, 37) to lead a team to a men’s basketball national title.

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Ranking the five biggest stories for Florida Gators athletics in 2025

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