Already known by the Gator Country staff as “The Hoops Guy” — hey, it ain’t original but it’s accurate — Brent Mechler (akaGatorhoops on our forums) is a welcome addition to our collection of unique voices covering the Florida Gators.
With his long history in the game of basketball, Brent’s “rebound” to bring tremendous insight, wit, and insider tidbits with his columns at Gator Country. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from University of Florida in 1997, has nearly 10,000 posts on Gator Country’s Swamp Gas forums, and hasn’t missed a Gators’ basketball game since 1993. But Brent’s love of the hearing the swish dates all the way back to growing up in a basketball family since his dad played for Iona. A couple decades ago, Brent’s brother-in-law was a walk-on for the University of Florida’s basketball program — whose team won the program’s first SEC championship.
Since graduating, Brent’s founded his own successful residential real estate firm in South Florida and gained notoriety as a professional columnist by writing about his second passion, fishing. Brent’s been a regular columnist for Florida Sport Fishing magazine and has also been published in the Guy Harvey magazine.
We warmly welcome Brent to the Gator Country family and look forward not only his insight on all things basketball, but also professional advice on the best fishing in the Sunshine State.
Be on the lookout for Brent’s first column titled “Ode to the Florida walk-on” over the weekend. It’s the intriguing story of former Gators hoopster Michael Ramirez.