Jeremy Foley's surprising retirement as Florida's athletic director leaves one of the most powerful and successful athletic departments in college sports without a leader — or a single obvious candidate to replace the man who led the Gators for a quarter of a century.
Instead, Florida has three, none of whom may be the clubhouse leader for the role.
Those people are the athletic department's executive associate athletic directors: Mike Hill, executive associate athletic director for external affairs; Chip Howard, executive associate athletic director for internal affairs; and Lynda Tealer, executive associate athletic director "for administration," who is listed under the "Women's Administration" header of His background is in marketing, and since his arrival at Florida in 1993, he has spent much of the last two decades crafting and commissioning the marketing messages that have made the Gator Nation part of the national lexicon.