Florida basketball: Q&A with rising Gators coach Todd Golden
By John Fanta
FOX Sports College Basketball Writer
At 36, Todd Golden is one of the fastest-rising coaches in college basketball.
He went from assistant coach at San Francisco to taking over the Dons program in 2019, to the head coaching job at Florida.
His rapid ascent to the SEC came after it was announced on Selection Sunday that previous head coach Mike White was leaving Gainesville to take the job at rival Georgia.
That got the wheels rolling on a head coaching search for athletic director Scott Stricklin, something that hasn’t been common practice for Florida basketball in recent history, due mostly to Billy Donovan. Donovan was just 31 when the Gators named him the head coach in 1996, and after a two-decade run that featured national titles in 2006 and 2007, Florida’s program was transformed.
While White led the Gators to NCAA Tournament wins in four of six eligible seasons (the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled), including an Elite Eight trip in 2017, he could never match Donovan.
That same high expectation level is in place for Golden, who made waves in March by leading San Francisco to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1998. Between the success at a school that does not have the resources of league foes Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s or BYU, and an analytically driven mindset that guides his decision-making, Golden has the makeup to be a premier figure in the sport. He’s young, forward-thinking and has proved he can win at a difficult place.
[SEC basketball: Kentucky, Arkansas lead a rising league]
As one of six new head coaches in the Southeastern Conference, the Arizona native enters the league during a fascinating time, in which the fast rise of programs like Arkansas and Alabama has swung athletic directors into action to find their next transformative leader.
We caught up with Golden this week for a FOX College Hoops Q&A.
What were your first days and weeks like on the job in Gainesville?
I got down here in late March and after the first week or so, [director of basketball strategy and analytics] Jonathan Safir got down here. Then, [assistant coach] Kevin Horde came down. We were all at a Residence Inn. We wanted something a little more homely, a little more inviting. I worked it out with the administration and asked if we could secure an Airbnb. We found a house that was just a quarter-mile away from the practice facility, so we packed up from the Residence Inn and the three of us headed to the house. It ended up being a very productive move.
Did you feel like you were back in college?
[Laughter.] To a degree. We were three dudes living on pizza. Our families weren’t out here yet. It was a great time, and reminded me of my younger days at Saint Mary’s (Golden’s alma mater). I did have a solid full-sized bed which was good.
Take me through a day at work, then your nights at the house.
Basically, we would get through a day in the office. Then, we’d head back to the Airbnb and figure out some sort of takeout option for dinner. We spend nights going through the transfer portal. Just looking at it from top to bottom to see who’s out there. Anybody we were interested in, we would look at Synergy and watch a ton of film on them. It was basically a rinse-and-repeat of going through the portal, looking at KenPom and checking out Torvik pages. It’s actually how we recruited Trey Bonham (VMI transfer). We were watching Synergy at 11:30 one night. When I saw him on tape, I said, “Let’s get him on the phone first thing tomorrow.” Sure enough, those late-night sessions in the living room paid off. We lived in the Airbnb for about a month, then I moved in with my family in Gainesville at the end of April.
So while Fortnite or NBA 2K video game sessions were happening at a frat house in the neighborhood, you guys were still awake … but looking hard at analytics?
That’s exactly right, in fact here’s a good picture with a 12:13 a.m. time stamp! It’s classic.
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