Campus Notebook: Women's Basketball Makes Splash Hire; Lingard Uses NIL For Good; COVID-19 Notes

As college football season quickly approaches and “talking season” is in full swing, it’s easy for other news from around campus to get buried under all the football buzz.

Nonetheless, it’s been a busy week for UF sports. Here’s a brief roundup from campus this week:

Women’s basketball brings aboard coaching veteran

Just weeks after former head coach Cam Newbauer stepped down from his post, Florida women’s basketball seems to be trending in the right direction.

The women’s basketball program added Julie Plank to its staff of coaches, interim head coach Kelly Rae Finley announced on Wednesday.

Plank, a 26-year coaching veteran, has been around the block. Her most recent stint was as an assistant coach with the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. In addition to 12 seasons in the big leagues, Plank also served as an assistant at Stanford for 10 seasons.

While with the Cardinal, Plank helped coach Stanford to eight straight tournament appearances, four Final Fours and two national championships in 1990 and 1992.

Plank has also found success internationally after helping the women’s national team secure gold medals in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

“We are thrilled to welcome Julie to Florida. After initial conversations it became clear that Julie is the perfect fit for our program as a whole. Her contagious energy, attention to detail, experience and positive outlook on life will impact us all each day," Finley said. "Julie has invested significant time elevating the game of women's basketball and her impressive resume speaks for itself. She brings years of experience coaching at the highest levels and we are confident that together we will provide the best possible environment for our student-athletes to succeed on and off the court."

The hiring of Plank seems to be a step in the right direction after Newbauer’s departure, which had given the program a black eye.

While little is known about Newbauer’s decision to “step away”, Cydnee Kinslow, who played under Newbauer last season before graduating, has posted videos to the social media platform TikTok asserting that Newbauer was actually fired for being emotionally abusive towards his players.

In his absence, Finley was promoted to interim head coach for the 2021 season.

Football’s Lorenzo Lingard to promote Chomp The Violence

The effect that name, image and likeness (NIL) has had on college sports is often scrutinized.

While some players are signing endorsement deals, launching their own apparel company or being paid for exclusive interviews with media publications, Florida Gators’ running back Lorenzo Lingard is taking a different approach.

Lingard announced on Twitter on Thursday morning that he would be joining Paving Peace, a Gainesville-based organization, in its Chomp The Violence event on August 29.

The event, which is described as a “family friendly evening of BBQ and activities to chomp out local violence in our streets”, is set to be hosted at the Stayable Select hotel in Gainesville and will feature a meet and greet with Lingard.

While it’s unclear if Lingard is being paid for his partnership with the event, it’s refreshing seeing a college athlete use this new opportunity for good in the community.

While Mullen stay coy regarding vaccination percentage, UF softball rallies around Hannah Adams’ father’s battle with the virus

With the coronavirus and the Delta variant surging back into everyone’s lives, Dan Mullen told media members on Thursday that he and the team recently had a meeting regarding the current state of the virus and the variant, as well as precautions players could take to remain healthy.

“Having been through it, (we’re) a little bit more educated on the situation, of a preventative aspect of it and where to be comfortable and how not to be and what not to do,” Mullen said. “So we have changed that but we have not put any mandates in on anybody.”

Despite the absence of mandates and requirements, Mullen said the team’s vaccination percentage continues to climb.

In true Dan Mullen fashion, however, Mullen would not disclose the exact percentage of players that had received their vaccines.

“We’re at a grade that you could bring home to your parents, you wouldn’t have to hide that report card,” Mullen said. “We’re at that percentage where you’d be proud to bring your report card home.”

Meanwhile, Florida softball is rallying around Hannah Adams, the Gators’ tried and true senior second baseman from the 2021 season.

Posts to Adams’ Instagram stories have detailed her father’s battle with COVID-19.

According to Adams’ posts, her father Shane has been on a ventilator and receiving treatment in the ICU.