Bailey hired as senior director of player relations and GatorMade

Billy Napier has hired Savannah Bailey as the Gators’ senior director of player relations and GatorMade.

GatorMade is “a holistic player-focused and purpose-driven initiative that develops each Gators football team member during their tenure at Florida and beyond.”

The GatorMade program will serve as an extension of the resources and experiences offered to all athletes through the Hawkins Center.

The GatorMade staff will also consist of Senior Director of Player Development and Alumni Relations Vernell Brown and Director of Player Engagement and NIL Marcus Castro-Walker. Collectively, they will support and challenge the entire football team and connect with former UF football players for “opportunities of celebration and growth.”

Bailey, a Columbia, Tennessee, native, graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology in 2016, and she earned a Master of Education degree in Student Affairs/Counseling from Clemson University in 2019. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in education leadership at Clemson.

She spent the last five seasons at Clemson as the director of life skills and community service with the Tigers’ P.A.W. Journey program. In this position, she helped develop football players through daily mentoring, civic engagement, service-learning and life skills acquisition.

Bailey’s role at Florida will consist of creating and implementing opportunities for leadership and professional development of football players.

Ethan Hughes
Ethan was born in Gainesville and has lived in the Starke, Florida, area his entire life. He played basketball for five years and knew he wanted to be a sportswriter when he was in middle school. He’s attended countless Gators athletic events since his early childhood, with baseball being his favorite sport to attend. He’s a proud 2019 graduate of the University of Florida and a 2017 graduate of Santa Fe College. He interned with the University Athletic Association’s communications department for 1 ½ years as a student and also wrote for InsideTheGators.com for two years before joining Gator Country in 2021. He is a long-suffering fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter @ethanhughes97.