Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in his press conference on Oct. 20 that the consulting firm TurnkeyZRG will help in the hiring of the next Florida football coach.
TurnkeyZRG assisted in the search for Florida Gators basketball coach Todd Golden, who guided Florida basketball to its third national title in school history last April. The search firm also assisted Indiana in the hiring of Curt Cignetti, who has gone 18-2 in two seasons with the Hoosiers.
Founded in 1996 and based in Haddonfield, N.J., TurnkeyZRG, per its LinkedIn profile, is a highly specialized talent recruitment/executive search firm filling C-level, senior-level and mid-management level positions throughout sports, entertainment, music, and media. Over the past 25 years, TurnkeyZRG has filled more than 1,500 positions.
Per its website, TurnkeyZRG has consulted for more than 30 pro and college sports entities including the NFL, Los Angeles Dodgers, NCAA, Big Ten Conference, SEC, Alabama Crimson Tide, Michigan Wolverines and Texas Longhorns.
Touting its ability conducting college administrative and coaching searches, TurnkeyZRG wrote the following on its webiste: “TurnkeyZRG has successfully completed over 200 searches in this industry. We’ve placed people across every department there is, including ADs, Deputy ADs, and SWAs across sales, marketing, finance, compliance, and many more. We’ve also placed head coaches across all sports. Our extensive and current work in this space allows us to start your search ‘on second base’ We know how to get to the right people, and get to them quickly.”
A story from the Independent Florida Alligator in 2024 detailing former UF president Ben Sasse’s lavish spending reported that Florida entered into a $1.3 million contract with TurnkeyZRG before August of 2024. It’s unclear whether the costs of using the search firm for the next football hire will be covered under that contract. Average costs for coaching searches range from $50,000 to $150,000 per search, based on a CBS Sports report.
Stricklin said that while the search firm will assist, he will make the final call on the coaching search.
“I’ll use every available resource,” Stricklin said. “We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. I’ll be listening to a lot and taking a lot of suggestions and advice. And we do have a lot of access to a lot of information. So we’ll utilize all of that.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: What is TurnkeyZRG? More on the consulting firm assisting the Florida football coaching search
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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