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Florida becomes only school with 3 national championships in both football and basketball
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Florida proudly calls itself an “everything school.” With Monday night’s win over Houston, UF is now in a class by itself when it comes to the two most prominent sports in college athletics.
The Gators are the only athletic program to have 3 national championships in both football and men’s basketball.
@GatorsMBK @GatorsFB pic.twitter.com/6hY5XRdizO
— Hal Lewis (@halleygator) April 8, 2025
Florida football got things started with a national championship under legendary coach Steve Spurrier in 1996, Danny Wuerffel’s Heisman Trophy season. Ten years later, UF went on a run for the ages.
Billy Donovan led UF to the first national championship in Florida basketball history in 2006. In the fall of ’06, Urban Meyer won his first national championship, giving Gator football two national titles. The fun was just getting started in Gainesville.
Months after the BCS championship win, Donovan’s Florida basketball squad going back-to-back as Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green secured the 2007 national title, making it 4 titles between the two major programs.
Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and Brandon Spikes led the Gators to the 2008 BCS championship, the 2nd national title for Meyer, bringing the tally to 3 in Florida football history and 2 for the basketball program.
Since 2008, numerous other Florida programs brought home national championship hardware, but football and basketball were in a drought. That changed Monday night with a 65-63 win over Houston in San Antonio.
Florida fans are hoping that Billy Napier, with some help from DJ Lagway, can go on a Donovan-Meyer-like run with Todd Golden.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
