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 the "Gator Nation". The Gators compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and are consistently ranked among the top college sports programs in the United States. The University of Florida currently fields teams in nine men's sports and twelve women's sports.See, generally, GatorZone.com. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
All Florida Gators sports teams compete in NCAA Division I,NCAA.org, NCAA Members by Division, Division I Members . Retrieved July 13, 2009. and 20 of the 21 Gators teams compete in the SEC.See website of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), SECSports.com. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The sole University of Florida sports team that does not play in the SEC is the women's lacrosse team, which plays a sport the SEC has never sponsored. That team joined the Big 12 Conference in 2024 in advance of that conference's first women's lacrosse season in spring 2025. The Gators joined the Big 12 after having been a single-sport member of the American Athletic Conference since the 2019 lacrosse season. The University of Florida was one of the thirteen charter members who joined to form the new Southeastern Conference in 1932.The SEC was founded in December 1932 but did not begin athletic competition until the fall of 1933 History of the Southeastern Conference. Retrieved July 12, 2009. Previously, the university was a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association from 1912 to 1921Roger Saylor, "Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association ", College Football Historical Society, The LA84 Foundation. Retrieved July 12, 2009. and the Southern Conference from 1922 until the SEC began play in the fall of 1933.SoConSports.com, The History of the Southern Conference . Retrieved July 12, 2009.
All Florida Gators sports teams have on-campus facilities, and most are located on or near Stadium Road on the north side of campus, including Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for football;GatorZone.com, Football, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field . Retrieved July 12, 2009. the Exactech ArenaExactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center for basketball,GatorZone.com, Men's Basketball Facilities, Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Retrieved July 12, 2009.GatorZone.com, Women's Basketball Facilities, Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Retrieved July 12, 2009. gymnastics,GatorZone.com, Gymnastics Facilities, Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Retrieved July 12, 2009. swimming and diving,GatorZone.com, Swimming & Diving Facilities, Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Retrieved July 12, 2009. indoor track and field,GatorZone.com, Indoor Track & Field Facilities, Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Retrieved July 12, 2009. and volleyball;GatorZone.com, Volleyball Facilities, Stephen C. O'Connell Center . Retrieved July 12, 2009. and James G. Pressly Stadium for outdoor track and field.GatorZone.com, Track & Field Facilities, Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium, the Condron Ballpark, and the Donald R. Dizney Stadium for soccer and lacrosse are located on Hull Road on the southwestern side of the campus.GatorZone.com, Softball Facilities, Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium. Retrieved July 12, 2009.FloridaGators.com, Baseball Facilities, Florida Ballpark. Retrieved September 24, 2020.GatorZone.com, Lacrosse Facilities, Donald R. Dizney Stadium. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The Mark Bostick Golf Course and Scott Linder Stadium for tennis are located on S.W. Second Avenue on the northwestern side of the campus.UFGolfcourse.com, Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida. Retrieved July 12, 2009.GatorZone.com, Men's Tennis Facilities, Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. Retrieved July 12, 2009.GatorZone.com, Women's Tennis Facilities, Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex. Retrieved July 12, 2009.
The Florida Gators athletic program is administered by the University Athletic Association, Inc. (UAA), a private non-profit corporation that reports to the president of the university and its board of trustees.University Athletic Association, website homepage. Retrieved July 11, 2009. For the 2014–15 school year, the UAA had an operating budget of $103,310,001, projected revenues of $104,064,487, and made a $3.5 million contribution to the university's general fund.University Athletic Association, 2014–2015 Operating Budget Executive Summary . Retrieved September 4, 2014. Scott Stricklin has been Florida's athletic director since 2016.
Awards and records Baseball Basketball Basketball Cross country Cross country Golf Football Gymnastics Golf Lacrosse Swimming & diving Soccer Tennis Softball Track and field† Swimming & diving Tennis Track and field† Volleyball
Beginning in the early 1990s, the Florida Gators have been recognized as one of the premier athletic programs in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and one of the best in the nation. The SEC has awarded an All-Sports Trophy to the best overall sports program in the conference since 1984, and Florida has won the award 28 times as of 2023. Florida is the only school in the SEC and one of four schools nationally to have won a national championship in football, men's basketball, and baseball. Every year since 1993, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has recognized the Gators athletic program as one of the ten best overall Division I athletic programs in the country in its annual NACDA Directors' Cup standings, including as runners-up on four occasions.NACDA.com, Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Previous Scoring . Retrieved July 11, 2009. The men's athletic program was also the winner of the 2010–11 and 2011–12 Capital One Cup; the women's athletic program won the Capital One Cup in 2013–14, and both programs have placed in the top five in the standings on several other occasions.
Among the Gators' recent national championships, the Florida Gators men's basketball team won the 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament for the third time with a 65–63 win over the Houston Cougars. This championship makes the University of Florida the first and only Division I school in history to win the Division I Championship three times each in both football and basketball. Also, the men's basketball team won the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments, and the Florida Gators football team won 2007 BCS National Championship Game in football, all in 366 days.See NCAA.com, NCAA History, Division I Football. Retrieved March 12, 2015. See also NCAA.com, NCAA History, Division I Men's basketball. Retrieved March 12, 2015. Florida is the only school in NCAA Division I history to hold the outright men's basketball and football championships during the same school year.
In January 2009, the Gators football team won the 2009 BCS National Championship Game with a 24–14 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners.Associated Press, "Florida rides Tebow, suffocating defense to another BCS title", ESPN.com (January 8, 2009). Retrieved July 12, 2009 The Florida Gators baseball team took home its first championship at the 2017 NCAA championship, defeating rival SEC foe the LSU Tigers in two games. The Gators won the NCAA men's indoor track and field championship in three consecutive seasons in 2010, 2011 and 2012,"UF track and field coach wins national honor ", The Gainesville Sun (March 19, 2010). Retrieved March 20, 2010, the NCAA women's swimming and diving team national championship in 2010,Associated Press, "UF women win NCAA swimming championship ", The Gainesville Sun (March 20, 2010). Retrieved March 21, 2010."Gator men repeat as indoor track national champs ", The Gainesville Sun (March 12, 2011). Retrieved May 25, 2011. the NCAA women's tennis championship in 2011, 2012 and 2017,Associated Press, "Florida women's tennis wins national championship ", The Gainesville Sun (May 24, 2011). Retrieved May 25, 2011. the NCAA men's outdoor track and field championship in 2012, 2013 and 2016, the NCAA women's gymnastics championship in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and the NCAA softball championships in 2014 and 2015.Associated Press, "UF men's track captures first NCAA Outdoor title ", The Gainesville Sun (June 10, 2012). Retrieved June 10, 2012. Individual Gator athletes have won 279 individual NCAA championships in boxing, golf, gymnastics, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field. In 2017, Florida won the baseball national championship for the first time. The Gators swept LSU in the best of three national title series. This earned the university a total of 40 national team championships. Additionally, this put the University of Florida in exclusive company. With the 2017 baseball national championship, Florida became only the fourth school in history to win national championships in football, men's basketball, and baseball. Florida, along with Michigan, Ohio State, and UCLA are the only schools to ever achieve triple crown status. This also put Florida in a category by itself. Florida is the only Southeastern Conference school to accomplish this feat, as well, Florida is the only school in history to have achieved triple crown status in such a short span of time. Florida's first national championships in each of the big three sports (football, men's basketball, and baseball) were won in the span of just 21 years.GatorZone.com, Athletic Department, Overview & History . Retrieved June 29, 2015.
NCAA all-sports rankings
The University of Florida has been ranked among the nation's top ten NCAA Division I athletic programs every year since 1983–84, an overall ranking that includes both men's and women's sports – the only college sports program ranked in the top ten in the United States for the last 39 consecutive years.Robbie Andreu, "UF athletics 4th in Directors' Cup", The Gainesville Sun (June 23, 2015). Retrieved July 1, 2015. The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has recognized the University of Florida as ranking among the top seven Division I programs in its NACDA Directors' Cup standings every year since the NACDA and USA Today began awarding the cup in 1993–94. The 2022–23 academic year marked the Gators' 39th consecutive year ranked among the nation's top ten best overall collegiate athletic programs, and the twenty-second consecutive year ranked among the top seven Division I programs in the NACDA Directors' Cup standings. Only one other Division I athletic program has matched that feat, and Florida has achieved this record while fielding fewer sports teams than many of the other perennially top-ranked collegiate athletic programs. In the 29 years of the NACDA Directors' Cup, the Gators have finished fifth or better in 22 years, and have never finished lower than seventh; the only other program ranked among the top ten Division I programs every year since 1993–94 is the Stanford Cardinal sports program of Stanford University.
NCAA Division I all-sports rankings
Year Rank 1983–84 5th 1984–85 4th 1985–86 8th 1986–87 4th 1987–88 5th 1988–89 9th 1989–90 5th 1990–91 5th
Year Rank 1991–92 5th 1992–93 4th 1993–94 4th 1994–95 5th 1995–96 3rd 1996–97 5th 1997–98 2nd (tie) 1998–99 4th
Year Rank 1999–00 7th 2000–01 7th 2001–02 3rd 2002–03 7th 2003–04 6th 2004–05 6th 2005–06 5th 2006–07 6th
Year Rank 2007–08 6th 2008–09 3rd 2009–10 2nd 2010–11 4th 2011–12 2nd 2012–13 2nd 2013–14 2nd 2014–15 4th
Year Rank 2015–16 5th 2016–17 3rd 2017–18 3rd 2018–19 3rd 2019–20 2020–21 5th 2021–22 5th 2022–23 5th
Year Rank 2023–24 4th
SEC All-Sports Trophy