Florida Basketball: “Welcome to the Golden era”

Florida Gators get a new head coach in Todd Golden

The Florida Gators basketball team has been exceptionally underwhelming under former head coach Mike White.  After a head coach like Billy Donovan, it is hard to replace a coach of that caliber, but White did not do much for the Gators.  While they did reach the elite 8 in 2017, they never reached past the round of 32 after that under Mike.  Many fans got their wish this offseason of White leaving, as he would go on to coach for SEC rival Georgia.  This leaves the Gators with a new head coach, that being Todd Golden from the University of San Francisco.

https://twitter.com/GatorsMBK/status/1504930151909498889?s=20&t=O-TYZglN9NMHCb5vtOkF7A

Next, we have to delve into the real details, is Todd Golden good for Florida and can he bring the Florida program to glory?  Well first off, he took a program (University of San Francisco) that had not been to the NCAA tournament in over 25 years, and brought them there, which is an exceptionally good sign if nothing else.  He is also a relatively young head coach at only 36 years of age and had a short playing career abroad in the Israeli Basketball Premier League.  Since then, he has coached as an assistant at Columbia University, Auburn, and San Francisco, finally being promoted to head coach in 2019.

https://twitter.com/GatorsMBK/status/1506079033280368642?s=20&t=wLTPsgZjX-W71U7urVQRGQ

In terms of what Golden brings to the Gators?  A young fresh analytically driven mind at head coach and a fresh face to the franchise.  While we do not know a ton about Todd Golden, or how he will produce at the SEC level compared to the West Coast Conference.  However, what we do know is he had a winning record 2/3 seasons at San Francisco with a team that had struggled for 2 1/2 decades prior.  Having a 57-36 head coaching record (.613%) really is not that horrid considering his circumstances, and bringing that team to the tournament alone is a feat within itself.

Now, is he going to be the best head coach ever and lead Florida to 17 straight championships?  Probably not.  However having a young mind such as his in the coaching world to stir up the coaching of the team, and allow Florida to see something different for once and not the constant poor Mike White coaching.  Hopefully, at the very least, we could see him bring the Gators deeper into the tournament, which is seemingly what all fans are hoping for at this point.

Let the Golden era commence!