Florida softball coach Tim Walton speaks about season ending loss to Texas Tech, 2026 campaign
Florida softball simply, in coach Tim Walton’s eyes, ran out of gas in its Super Regional loss to Texas Tech which ended UF’s season before the WCWS for the first time since 2023.
MIRAMAR BEACH − Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin admitted he wasn’t highly focused on Florida softball’s three-game Super Regional series loss to Texas Tech.
Stricklin was in Indianapolis over the weekend of May 22-24 working with the NCAA Division I baseball tournament selection committee. He watched some of UF’s 16-7, five-inning loss to the Red Raiders in Game 3, but he didn’t hear until following the end of the game that Florida Gators’ players chose not to shake hands with the Red Raiders.
It was a tense series, which included a fan ejection and former UF-turned-Texas Tech slugger Mia Williams getting hit five times in three games. As a result, Stricklin respected the decision that UF players made.
“It was a highly charged emotional weekend,” Stricklin said. “You are competing to go to the World Series. We have a pretty supportive fanbase so I’m sure the emotions are high. Tim (Walton) is as good a coach is there is in any sport in any school in the country. I imagine any decision he made there was in the spirit of trying to prevent further issues. I’d respect any decision he made.”
Walton was ejected before the end of UF’s 16-7 loss to Texas Tech in the deciding Game 3 of the series. He said wasn’t consulted in the decision not to shake hands but thought it may have been for the better given the anxiety of the series.
“On TV, they were saying there might be a bench-clearing brawl,” Walton said. “Never seen that in softball in my life.”
Stricklin is at SEC Spring Meetings at the Sandestin Resort, where much of the focus has centered on the potential expansion of the College Football Playoff. He’s a proponent for playoff expansion.
“We have a math problem,” Stricklin said. “We have 68 power conference schools and there’s 11 spots right, and there’s no other sport we sponsor where fewer than half of our teams in the SEC get in the postseason.
“If you look at NFL, you have 32 teams with 14 spots, NBA, others have half their teams get in. That’s a pretty accepted standard in American sports and the sport that we have that generated the most revenue, has the most engagement… we have a fraction of that.”
Stricklin doesn’t know if the answer is 16 or 24 teams at this point.
“We need a lot more evaluation to understand where the value is on the market in the media marketplace, from a rights standpoint,” Stricklin said. “I think we need to understand the impact it does have on the regular season. I am candidly one of those who doesn’t think it will negatively impact the regular season if we expand, but I don’t know if we have enough data or research to even understand that. It’s just people giving their opinions.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1.
