GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan now has a homemade gym in his garage. It’s the first place he visits every morning.
O’Sullivan used a two-month leave of absence to change his daily routine and eliminate some old habits in hopes of finding “the best version of myself” heading into his 19th season in Gainesville.
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“It’s really that simple,” O’Sullivan said Friday, more than seven weeks after resuming his coaching duties with the Gators. “I feel rejuvenated. I feel great. I feel much, much more at peace, if that makes sense.”
O’Sullivan stepped away in late October to address undisclosed “personal matters.”
The Gators went through two interim coaches during his hiatus. They turned to associate head coach Chuck Jeroloman before he left to take a similar job at Tennessee. Florida then hired former Auburn head coach Tom Slater as associate head coach.
O’Sullivan returned a week before Christmas and has been getting his program ready for next weekend’s season-opening series against UAB. The 57-year-old coach nicknamed “Sully” has led the program to 756 wins, 17 NCAA regionals, nine College World Series appearances, six Southeastern Conference championships and the 2017 national title.
But his most recent season was far from the norm. In August, the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee issued a public reprimand to O’Sullivan for aggressive behavior and profanity-laced language directed at site administrators for the regional in Conway, South Carolina, two months earlier.
O’Sullivan was upset that the start time of his team’s elimination game against East Carolina was pushed back an hour. East Carolina’s previous game had ended at midnight.
Videos of O’Sullivan’s tirade were circulated widely on social media.
“I certainly wish I didn’t do it,” O’Sullivan said. ”No one feels more regretful than I do. The last thing I want to do is misrepresent Florida or myself, or anybody for that matter. I handled it poorly.”
Florida responded by suspending O’Sullivan for the first three games of the 2026 season, meaning he will have to watch the opening series from home.
“I certainly accept that,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve moved forward on that. That’s in the past for me.”
O’Sullivan’s career probably depends on it.
He signed a four-year contract extension in January 2024 that raised his annual salary to $1.8 million and put him under contract through 2033. But there’s little doubt decision-makers at Florida will have no tolerance moving forward for another outburst.
“You make a commitment to yourself personally,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s what kind of slips away at times. I get up every morning and have my own routine and make sure I get some personal time for myself, so I don’t get bogged down during the day and let one day slip away from the next.
“It’s important. One of the things is we all take care of ourselves first. And if we do that, then everything else will fall in place. It’s really that simple.”
O’Sullivan admittedly has been too much of a perfectionist at times, and last year was a trying season. The Gators dealt with a rash of injuries and started 1-11 in SEC before rebounding to make the NCAA field.
He opens this season with high expectations. Not only does he have a ranked team led by starting pitchers Liam Peterson and Aidan King, he now expects more of himself.
“Things can kind of get away from me a little bit,” he said. “Last fall, at the end, was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do other than lose my parents or other family members. But it ended up being the best thing that could have happened.”
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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports