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Hurricanes
Scott Stricklin makes Twitter an integral part of his new job
Miami’s basketball team rallies in the final minutes, then defeats Virginia in OT.
GAINESVILLE — Scott Stricklin arrives from a morning meeting just in a time for the next one.
Another whirlwind day is underway for UF’s new athletics director, who now heads one of the monoliths in college athletics.
But first, Stricklin has important business to address. One of his teenager daughters has sent him a Snapchat that needs his immediate attention.
He quickly fires off a reply, noting he keeps “snaps” within the family circle. Stricklin, though, is not at all shy when it comes to sharing on social media platforms, namely Twitter.
It is an integral piece of Stricklin’s approach to his job.
“It’s just another way to relate,” he said during a recent interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “Social media is not quite as intimate as a face-to-face meeting, but in our society today it does seem to tear down some walls and give a sense of familiarity where it didn’t exist before.
“You used to meet somebody and you would try to make connections, ‘Hey, I know this guy you went to high school with, or I’ve met your cousin.’ You would make a connection. It’s amazing how many people I meet today they comment, ‘I met you on Twitter or I tweeted at you.’
“It’s just another level of connection that people have. I think there’s some value in that, to the extent that people might feel like your relationship has a jump start because of the social media connections.”
The 46-year-old has tweeted since 2008 and is now one of the trendsetters on Twitter among athletic directors.
Stricklin boasts an account with more than 57,500 followers — second in the SEC among ADs to Arkansas’ Jeff Long, who benefits from being the chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee.
Former UF athletics director Jeremy Foley, who retired Nov. 1, does not have an active Twitter account, though the 64-year-old does read tweets from other accounts.
“Jeremy consumes,” Stricklin said. “He does not create content.”
Stricklin, on the other hand, can give a teen girl a run for her money when it comes to smartphone use.
His iPhone is like an appendage, but also one of greatest allies.
Stricklin uses Twitter to celebrate the achievements of the Gators, connect with fans and create a window into his life away from work.
This past weekend, Stricklin posted a photo from the softball field, baseball field, golf course and tennis complex — all sites to Gators’ home events. He congratulated All-America swimmer Caeleb Dressel for winning the SEC’s 100-meter freestyle and his teammates on bringing home the school’s conference-record 38th men’s swimming and diving championship.
Stricklin later tweeted he was spending his night watching the documentary “Planet Earth II.”
“If you’re going to have a Twitter account, some ADs I think make — I think it’s a mistake — they just tweet out official party line stuff,” Stricklin said. “They don’t share their own thoughts or their own humor or anything on it. I think that’s a bit of a mistake because I don’t think it seems genuine or authentic. It seems just kind of pretty benign.
“I tweet out some stuff from our official accounts, re-tweet some stuff, but I think you have to put enough of your own personality to give it value.”
To that end, Stricklin tweeted what many were thinking on Super Bowl Sunday: “Make Super Bowl commercials great again.” The comment generated 550 retweets and 1,100 “likes.”
Yet Stricklin’s primarily focuses his passion and energy — in whatever platform is necessary — to improve the Gators.
A little more than two months after he arrived from Mississippi State, Stricklin set out to meet top boosters throughout Florida and kick off a grassroots campaign to fund the latest round of massive facility upgrades. More than of $100 million will be needed to complete a new stand-alone football facility and major renovations to the baseball and softball stadiums and golf practice complex.
This month, Gators Boosters Inc. launched the “Game Changers Initiative” to finance the projects.
“People who are game changers make a difference,” Stricklin said. “We need everyone who loves the Gators to make a difference.”
During eight years at Mississippi State, the last six as AD, Stricklin made an indelible mark on the Bulldogs.
Stricklin oversaw record fundraising and more than $140 million in new facilities and upgrades in Starkville, highlighted by a $75 million expansion of Davis Wade Stadium.
Named Under Armour’s Athletics Director of the Year in April 2016, Stricklin inherits a program with richer tradition and many more championship banners. Stricklin realizes his position and is quick to note he’s not “trying to recreate the wheel” at UF. But he said change also is necessary to continue giving fans a reason to come out and support the Gators.
Even in the SEC, home to football fan bases like few others, staying on top means staying ahead.
“You can’t just keep doing what you’ve been doing,” Stricklin said. “What we’ve done in the past might not be good enough. We might have do things differently.
“When you’re leading the market, you have to really work at it to maintain that position.”
Yet Stricklin is the prototype for the modern AD.
With his omnipresent iPhone in hand, he looks to lead UF into the future — one tweet at a time.