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Florida softball head coach reveals Morgan Wallen concert as motivation for back-to-back NCAA Regional mercy rule wins

Danby: Daniel Hager05/16/26DanielHagerOn3

The Gainesville Regional has been a cakewalk for the No. 6 seed Florida Gators so far. It has won its first two games by a combined score of 20-0, defeating Florida A&M (12-0) and Georgia Tech (8-0).

Hilariously, Morgan Wallen‘s two-night residency at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium might be a catalyst for the success. Florida softball head coach Tim Walton, who is in his 21st season at the helm, revealed that the players were motivated to get the games done quickly due to the concert. Some players went to Friday night’s show, and others are going to Saturday night’s show.

If this was truly being used as motivation to end these games as quickly as possible, the Gators have excelled at doing so. After winning its first two games in the Regional, Florida is just one win away from advancing to a Super Regional for the 17th time under Walton. The Gators have won two Women’s College World Series’ in that span (2014 and 2015).

Morgan Wallen was joined by Tim Tebow for walk out at The Swamp Friday night

As Friday night’s concert at The Swamp got underway, Wallen brought out Florida royalty. Tim Tebow joined him for his famous walk out to the stage. Wallen is in Gainesville as part of his “Still The Problem” stadium tour, which previously made a stop at Bryant-Denny Stadium last month. As part of his entrance that day, the country singer walked out with legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban.

Friday night, Wallen again called in a big name in Tebow. The crowd erupted when he showed up on the videoboard and the duo made their way out of the tunnel.

Wallen’s concert entrances continue to be a hit as he goes through his latest tour. In addition to Tebow and Saban, he recently brought out Caitlin Clark during his trip to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. A noted Tennessee fan, he also once entered a concert at Neyland Stadium with another SEC legend: Peyton Manning.

Friday was the first of two nights for Wallen at The Swamp as part of the “Still The Problem” tour. Thomas Rhett, Gavin Adcock and Zach John King are set to join him, according to his website. On Saturday, Ella Langley will jump on stage in Rhett’s place.

Wallen’s 2026 tour began in April at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and Gainesville marks the second stop in an SEC city. He also has a trip planned in Big Ten country with two shows in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in late July at The Big House.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.