Now that Hubert Davis is officially out as the head coach at UNC, all eyes across the college basketball world immediately pointed their gaze at Florida coach Todd Golden. On paper, there is nothing of substance that would indicate Golden is even remotely interested in leaving Gainesville, yet betting markets have Golden as the early favorite to become the new UNC coach. Throw in Kansas and Kentucky potentially looking for new coaches this offseason, and the 2026 coaching carousel is bound to be a loaded one with plenty of twists and turns.
Florida AD Scott Stricklin is projecting strength and is indicating that Golden is going to be in Gainesville for a long time. Actually making that a reality, fair or unfair, might be among the final things that define Stricklin’s legacy at Florida.
Todd Golden the center of numerous coaching rumors
Stricklin put out a statement on Tuesday that certainly makes it seem like there is zero chance Golden is going to walk out the door this offseason:
"Todd wants to be at the University of Florida. I wish all those [other] programs really good luck. I'm sure they'll find a good coach out there, and I'm glad Todd's going to be here for a long time."
That certainly sounds encouraging and sounds like an open-and-shut case. What did Stricklin say in addition to this bold proclamation:
"We're going to do everything in our power to make sure he always knows that he's really valuable."
So.... Is it not a done deal yet? Because saying you are going to do "everything in your power" leaves the door open that it's not a done deal.
The fact that Florida says it is actively working on another contract extension for Golden to thwart off some of the mega brands in college basketball is proactive, and it is also a sign that there is a hint of truth that Florida believes UNC and potentially Kansas and Kentucky are going to make a run at Golden.
It is also really hard to take anything Stricklin says at face value.
We just went through the twists and turns of a football coaching search where Stricklin and, by proxy, the rest of Florida’s insiders were seemingly in the dark. Up until Thanksgiving day, the report that kept coming out was that people inside Florida’s building were confident Lane Kiffin was coming to town, despite the fact that every other insider around the country had been saying for weeks that Florida was out of the picture. Even Stricklin’s own admission after the fact as to when he felt Florida was out of the picture and needed to pivot to Jon Sumrall doesn’t line up with when everyone else was saying Florida wasn’t getting Kiffin.
This isn’t a commentary on whether Sumrall is going to succeed; this is an observation that everyone in Gainesville was on a different wavelength than the rest of the country.
It’s also why retaining Golden after such a bold proclamation that he isn’t going anywhere is crucial for Stricklin’s legacy.
Golden, to this point, is literally the only successful coach Stricklin has hired. Sumrall is Stricklin’s third football coach he has hired. He just hired his third women’s basketball coach, he’s on his third soccer coach, and volleyball just had one of its worst seasons in a long time under its brand-new coach. Outside of Golden, anyone else who has had success at Florida in recent years has been from a coach Stricklin didn’t hire.
And as we have pointed out time and again, while Stricklin does get credit for hiring Golden, some of that credit gets docked because the only reason Golden came to town in the first place was that Mike White left on his own, not because Stricklin fired him.
It’s possible Golden could leave, and it isn’t Stricklin’s fault. UNC, Kentucky, and North Carolina are basketball-first schools. Florida, at the end of the day, is still a football-first school. But we went through this song and dance with Billy Donovan to Kentucky almost every year, and those attempts were thwarted.
Announce a contract extension that locks up Golden amidst some of the most high-profile jobs in the sport all coming open at once, and Stricklin’s legacy looks significantly better.
If Golden walks out the door after Stricklin claimed he wouldn’t, you know where to find us.