FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME
KEVIN MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN
Hometown: Jupiter, Fla. Wife: Barbara Jo (Davis) Children: Payton Tyler (3), Finn Thomas (3 months) Position: Florida baseball head coach, sixth season (223-102) As a player: Catcher at Florida Community College and the University of Virginia, where he was a first-team All-ACC performer in 1990 and ’91.
Kevin O’Sullivan poses with his wife, Barbara Jo who was pregnant with Finn Thomas, and their daughter, Payton Tyler, after the Gators won the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional on June 10, 2012.
Story and photos by Mike Capshaw
Family Matters
UF baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan said wives, family have played role in team’s success Behind every great coach is a great spouse. Florida Gators baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan and his staff are living proof. O’Sullivan said coaches’ wives are every bit as “invested” in success as the coaches. College coaching in any sport is a year-round business. Seasons are a grind that would make the typical 9-5er want to drive their Toyota Prius off a Suwanee River bridge. There is no “off” time during the offseason, either. It’s the same arrivebefore-sunrise-and-leave-well-aftersundown approach that occurs 24/7 during the regular season. It takes a special spouse, and family, to handle the routine. Coaches learn, thanks to words of wisdom from coaching fraternity veterans, to make sure their wives-to-be understand the profession before they become wives. To understand weeks may go by where the only quality time is the
8
GATOR COUNTRY | JAN/2013
perhaps engrained in them by hard-working parents, driving them daily to be the best. “When I am home, I do spend as much quality time with everybody as much as I possibly can and have a normal family life when I get home,” O’Sullivan said. All college coaches, at least the successful ones, work tirelessly. The light in Florida football coach Will Muschamp’s office must be an LED bulb because, unless the team is practicing or out of town, it’s almost always on. Burning the midnight oil so much means families often must go to the coaches’ workplace if they want to “see daddy” for a quick visit.
kiss-on-the-cheek goodbye or goodnight. “She’s known about the schedule for a long time,” O’Sullivan said of his wife, the former Barbara Jo Davis. “She knows my love for this job and what all that entails. She understands the amount of time and effort it takes to be successful at this level. “She’s always been extremely supportive. That’s never been an issue with us.” An article published in 2007 said the divorce rate for “successful” coaches in one professional sport mirrors that of Hollywood’s. It didn’t offer any data to support that claim but the simple truth is some wives cannot handle playing second base to any husband’s job that comes first, demanding much more than the normal 40-hour work week. It’s not that coaches love their jobs more than their families. Not in the slightest. There’s just a competitive spirit and pride, Fact: In 1918, the university serves as a base for 400 soldiers for World War I.