The University of Florida is hiring University of San Francisco men's basketball head coach Todd Golden for the same position, sources confirmed to The Athletic. ESPN first reported that USF was targeting Golden. The Dons' season ended Thursday night — after making their first NCAA Tournament since 1998 — with a 92-87 overtime loss to Murray State.
Florida is replacing Mike White, who was announced as the new coach at the University of Georgia on Sunday. White was at Florida for seven seasons, amassing a 142-88 record, including four NCAA Tournament appearances.
Golden, 36, took the helm at USF in March 2019 after serving as associate head coach for the previous three seasons under Kyle Smith, who left for Washington State. Before that, Golden was director of basketball operations and then an assistant coach for two seasons at Auburn.
Golden played collegiately at Saint Mary's, including in two NCAA Tournaments.
The Dons went 24-10 this season, 11-14 in 2020-21 and 22-12 in 2019-20 under Golden. Florida went 20-13 this season, losing in the first round of the SEC tournament, but won its first-round game against Iona in the NIT on Wednesday.
(Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
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Moving at jet speed with the SEC's youngest basketball coach
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Gators hire 'rising star' in Todd Golden, 37
Why Golden?
G. Allan Taylor, Florida beat writer: Industry sources said Scott Drew, Danny Hurley and Tony Bennett weren’t a possibility for Florida, and AD Scott Stricklin didn’t want go the retread route with Sean Miller, Rick Pitino or Kelvin Sampson.
He quickly focused on the 36-year-old Golden, a fast riser who proved himself as a head coach at the mid-major level. That’s the trajectory on which Billy Donovan came to the Gators at age 39 and launched the program to unexpected heights. More than one source this week made the comparison betwen Golden and Donovan, which is a compliment and a curse based on the expectations.
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What should his priorities be?
Taylor: Hiring a staff that can identify and develop top-100 prospects while attacking the portal. Golden had to find diamonds in the rough at USF the same way his alma mater Saint Mary’s has done. Perhaps his longstanding international connections will yield players at the SEC level too, though Golden will have access to better prospects at Florida.
Expectations for Gators next year
Taylor: Who knows? Aside from freshman guard Kowacie Reeves, reserves CJ Felder and Jason Jitoboh are the only key contributors expected to return. With up to six seniors departing — Myreon Jones has the option of staying for an extra COVID year — the Gators are retooling.
They bring in the 19th-ranked signing class, led by five-star Malik Reneau and four-star Jalen Reed, but unless impact transfers come aboard, it’s not a team built to challenge for the SEC title.
