UF Presidential Candidate Dr. Stuart Bell Unanimously Selected by Board of Trustees
GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The University of Florida on Wednesday took the next step towards formally welcoming Dr. Stuart R. Bell as the university's next president as the UF Board of Trustees voted unanimously to select him.
Bell, the former president at Alabama (2015-23) and the lone candidate for the job, will be UF's 14th president pending ratification from the Florida Board of Governors, which is expected to vote on Bell's ratification on June 25.
"I am extremely honored and humbled by the Board of Trustees vote today, and I'm eager to join the Gator Nation and get to work," Bell said, via a press release. "The University of Florida is exceptional in every respect, and I know there's no limit to what we can all accomplish together."
The UF Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to select Dr. Stuart Bell as the University of Florida's next president.
- FLORIDA (@UF) June 10, 2026
Dr. Bell will become UF's 14th president, pending ratification by the Florida Board of Governors.https://t.co/zgJAfwwtRj
Bell's unanimous selection is the latest move as UF looks to have its first permanent president since Ben Sasse, who resigned suddenly from the role in 2024. Florida previously unanimously voted Dr. Santa J. Ono to be the permanent replacement last year, but he was ultimately rejected by the Florida BOG, marking the first time in the university's history that had happened.
Since Sasse's resignation, Florida has had former president Dr. Kent Fuchs and Dr. Donald Landry in the position on interim basis. Landry has been in the role since the beginning of the 2025 academic year.
UF said it expects Bell to be approved in its press release.
What to Know About Bell
In addition to being the former president at Alabama, Bell served as the president of the Southeastern Conference from 2023-25 and was on the league's Executive Committee from 2021-25. In these roles, Bell "worked with all SEC schools, the conference commissioner, legislators in Washington, DC, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to address critical issues facing collegiate athletics nationwide," according to the press release that officially announced his candidacy for the UF president position.
Under his leadership at both Alabama and alongside SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Bell's athletic programs saw great success.
During Bell's tenure as President, the SEC won 23 national titles across 14 team sports, including titles from Florida's men's outdoor track team (2023-24), men's golf team (2023) and men's basketball team (2025). While at Alabama, the Crimson Tide won three football national titles (2015, 2017, 2020) and snapped multiple postseason droughts across other sports, including a 30-year drought when the men's basketball program won the 2021 SEC Tournament and a 22-year NCAA Tournament drought when the women's basketball team made the tournament in 2021.
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban emphatically endorsed Bell to become UF's next president.
"Dr. Bell is an outstanding person and was a great leader at the University of Alabama," Saban said. "In the locker room after almost every game, he is a good friend and passionate supporter of athletics –– and is someone who made a significant impact on the university and the Tuscaloosa community. I know he will do wonderful things in Gainesville!"
Bell previously said that athletic success will be prioritized under his leadership at Florida and that academic and athletic success are not separate from each other.
"Athletics is just so important. I mean, from a student perspective, our recruiting, students want to be a part of something exciting," Bell said in a recent interview with 1010XL's Frank Fangie. "Athletics is just one of those things that I think brings everyone together on campus and just unites us. And I'll tell you from the perspective of a fanbase, they love to come back and reconnect on campus, and that is really important just to a university overall. And who doesn't like winning? Florida has great tradition of that in athletics. But it's really important for all the university what athletics brings to the table."
Outside of athletics, Bell "serves or has served on the Executive Committee for Academic Affairs of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, on the Board of Directors for the Center for Science Education at the University of Kansas, as the Chairman of the Academic Advisory Council for the NSF's Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets based at the University of Kansas, and as a trustee of the ASME Foundation."
Additionally, he was provost and professor of engineering at LSU ad as dean of the School of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering at Kansas before his stint at Alabama. In 2023, he was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame after being "widely recognized for his research and publications on natural gas and combustion engines."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/florida as UF Presidential Candidate Dr. Stuart Bell Unanimously Selected by Board of Trustees.
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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 6:00 PM.