Thoughts of the Day: July 3, 2026

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:

Friday, July 3, 2026 began like every other day. At 4:30 I woke up, no alarm necessary, a habit that became daily routine for more than 20 years of taking care of elderly parents. Both Dom and Carleta Underwood have passed away during the last 18 months but the habit of waking up to check up on them remains intact. Of course, they are absent so the early morning hours are now spent reading, writing and reflection.

In the quiet of another morning on Lake Eustis, home to some very large bass and even larger reptiles, the word loyalty flashes through my mind almost like one of those gigantic electronic billboards, connecting names like Jon Sumrall, Jadan Baugh, Todd Golden, Alex Condon, Tommy Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu. During the past seven months these six have offered up a rather exquisite understanding of the impact of loyalty.

Start with Sumrall. He took the Florida football job only after Scott Stricklin and the UF administration agreed to let him coach Tulane for the American Conference championship and the College Football Playoff. Unlike a certain coach of an SEC team that abandoned a team capable of winning the national championship, Sumrall remained loyal to the kids he coached and the people who had opened the door for him to take the next step up on his coaching journey when he left Troy after two Sun Belt Conference championship seasons for Tulane. In the three weeks following his taking the Florida job, Sumrall made certain the recruiting class he was bringing to Tulane stayed intact. There were no de-commitments. At the same time he convinced 16 of Florida’s 18 committed recruits to sign with the Gators despite immense pressure for them to go elsewhere. That couldn’t have happened if Sumrall didn’t exude integrity and loyalty.

Next up he convinced running back Jadan Baugh to come back to Florida for his junior year, no small accomplishment considering the amount of NIL money that rival schools were willing to offer. ESPN ranks Baugh the No. 2 running back in the country for the 2026 season. The way Buster Faulkner designs and calls an offense, it isn’t a reach to think Baugh could very easily become college football’s premier running back. When he announced he would return for his junior year Baugh told Florida Victorious, “Being a Gator means everything to me.”

When Florida’s basketball season ended, Todd Golden had opportunities to take an NBA job. Before Steve Kerr announced that he would be back for the 2026-27 season as head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Golden could have had that job. It was his job if he wanted it but he said no, choosing loyalty to a Florida program that has won the 2025 NCAA championship, the 2025 SEC Tournament and the 2026 SEC regular season championship in just four years on the job.

It didn’t hurt Golden’s decision-making process that Alex Condon and Tommy Haugh announced they would be returning for one more season. Haugh would have been a lottery pick in the NBA Draft. Condon would have been a first rounder. Following the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, Rueben Chinyelu announced that he, too, would be back.

NIL money was part of the lure of returning to Florida, but that was only part of the equation. Some say that with the endorsements that will be coming his way, Haugh may be college basketball’s $10 million man. Condon and Chinyelu will make more money at Florida than they would have in the NBA. And, of course, all three could further enhance their status for the 2027 NBA Draft. All three are very close friends and there is a very strong bond between them and their other teammates. A feeling of loyalty to Golden also factored in their decisions to return.

Golden and his three big guys also know that next year’s Florida team could win another national championship and potentially go down as one of the greatest teams in recent college basketball history. Haugh calls it a “championship or bust” mentality that infects this team. A key word here is team and what separates the merely good teams from those that win championships is the loyalty it takes to produce a championship environment. It takes loyalty to the school, loyalty to the team and each of its members as well as loyalty to the coach.

The wonderful thing about loyalty is that it creates a bond that cements players, coaches, staff and even an entire fan base. This next Florida football team probably won’t win a championship this year but with loyalty such an integral part of the foundation, championships can and likely will be achieved in the future. As for basketball, the Gators will be the most experienced and talented team in the country. With loyalty as their bond, the Gators are near consensus pick to win it all.

Wonderful word loyalty. It speaks volumes for the year ahead for the Gator Nation.

BILLY DONOVAN TAKES ASSISTANT HEAD COACHING JOB WITH SAN ANTONIO SPURS

He could have had the North Carolina job or any college coaching job he wanted. He could have had other NBA head coaching jobs but instead Billy Donovan has agreed to become the assistant head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.

Surprised? Most are but there are close ties to San Antonio that factored into the decision starting with Spurs CEO RC Buford, who was a Florida assistant coach for Lon Kruger prior to Donovan taking the UF job in 1996. Buford has worked his way up the ranks in San Antonio as the chief scout, assistant coach to Greg Popovich and general manager. Along the way he and Donovan have maintained a close friendship. Donovan and Popovich are also good friends.

At San Antonio Donovan will be able to mentor Mitch Johnson, who got the Spurs to the championship finals in just his second year on the job. With Victor Wembanyama as the centerpiece at both ends of the court, the Spurs will be prohibitive favorites to win the NBA title next year, after which Donovan is certain to be on a lot of NBA short lists. There will also be the possibility of returning to college basketball at Kentucky if Mark Pope goes a third season with double-digit losses.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: I am not a soccer fan nor do I ever anticipate that I will fall in love with the sport. The reasons are many starting with a loose ball that nobody scoops up and runs with it. Through the years I have been lectured by soccer purists that if I only take the time to understand the game I will embrace its beauty and the many nuances will make logical sense. I understand the game. When I was in London in the mid-1990s, I had Arsenal season tickets, a gift from a former Arsenal midfielder who was a scratch golfer as well. He taught me the beauty of sticking an 8-iron on the green from 140 yards out but failed in his efforts to get me to appreciate things like stoppage time or offsides.

“It’s the world game,” Bob would tell me as we watched our caddies diligently search for one of my errant tee shots that disappeared into the trees and rough of the back nine at the Cariari Country Club. Bob’s tee shot was in the middle of the fairway, some 40-50 yards farther along. I knew then and know now that it is the world game, but as I pointed out to Bob Thompson, that we grow up with our own games in the United States complete with our own heroes. I, for example, grew up dreaming of becoming the third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles when Brooks Robinson retired. That dream lasted until some kid with a nasty hook discovered my bat had an aversion to contact with a breaking ball. The shattered baseball dream gave way to being the next Bill Bradley. After watching him score 57 points for Princeton in a Final Four consolation game (they had consolation games back then), I wanted to shoot like Bill Bradley. I obsessed with shooting but couldn’t play a lick of defense. My mind was willing but my feet just wouldn’t cooperate.

At a reunion of players he coached at both Santa Fe and Gainesville High School at Hitchcock Ranch a few years ago, Garnie Hatch told me I was hands down the worst defensive player he ever coached. He loved my jump shot but couldn’t justify putting me on the floor knowing fully well that I would give up as many or more points at the other end.

In the years since my athletic dreams rode off into the sunset I have been blessed with a career writing about sports. You name the sport I’ve written about it. Even soccer. I admire the writers whose words can make the game come alive for millions of readers. They love the game and they have a gift for explaining it. I also admire the passion of soccer fans, on full display here in the United States as the World Cup plays out on our stages. I don’t know who has more fun, the Norwegian fans or the Samba Kings from Brazil.

I enjoy the fans and how they carry the hopes of entire nations in hearts ready to swell with pride if their team/country wins. I feel their disappointment and dismay when their World Cup dreams are shattered.

I appreciate how American fans have embraced Team USA, almost as if they feel a collective urge to push our team to unprecedented success. It seems to be working. I can only imagine how deafening the crowd will be Monday night in Seattle when Team USA faces Belgium, the winner advancing to the quarter-finals. This might be the greatest home field advantage since France won the World Cup in 1998 by stunning Brazil, 3-0.

This match with Belgium will represent the greatest chance ever for soccer to become something other than a fringe sport in the United States. If the United States wins and is one of the last eight teams standing in the battle for the 2026 World Cup, the impact could be felt long into the future. Americans will support a winner so making the quarter-final round may seem like a “we have arrived” statement but it is only the first and greatest step so far. There is a lot of catching up to do. We don’t have soccer rivalries of any distinction here in the US. Soccer doesn’t have a Yankees-Red Sox or Celtics-Lakers or Alabama-Auburn rivalry here in the United States. We have no history of producing soccer players so great that one name – Pele or Beckham or Ronaldo or Messi – rolls off tongues with a measure of reverence.

For soccer to grow exponentially in the United States, rivalries and superstars are a necessity but those will be the by-product of winning on the world stage. There may never be an opportunity like the one afforded by this World Cup for American soccer to have lasting importance.