Gators' O'Sullivan, Stricklin Release Statements on Viral Incident

Though Florida exited the regional early, losing two out of their three matchups, the Gators' impact on the weekend lingered to the final press conference when Coastal Carolina’s coach Kevin Schnall spoke out about an incident between O’Sullivan and multiple officials and staff.

“The way he treated the two site reps, the way he treated our Associate AD, our field crew, was absolutely unacceptable,” Schnall said. “This is a National Champion coach who thinks he can come in here and try to bully people around.”

Video evidence of the incident spread throughout social media, showing O’Sullivan lashing out over the announcement that Florida’s Game Three matchup would be pushed back. While there wasn’t clarity of the whole situation, many felt that his actions were extremely out of hand.

“His actions prior to yesterday's NCAA tournament game fell well short of expectations of how Gators treat people,” Stricklin’s statement read. “One of our department’s core values is respect, and coach O’Sullivan’s unacceptable actions failed to demonstrate that.”

O’Sullivan has taken full responsibility for the event and his actions.

“I let my emotions get the best of me and channeled that energy in a way I should not have,” O’Sullivan’s statement read. “I did not represent the University of Florida to the appropriate standard yesterday and take full responsibility for that, and promise to learn from this experience and be better moving forward.”

The Gators' 2025 season ended Sunday after an 11-4 loss to ECU.

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