It is better late than never. After getting passed over for SEC Coach of the Year a season ago by the outgoing Bruce Pearl, Todd Golden made sure that 2025-26 would belong to him. The Florida Gators head coach was announced as this year's recipient on Monday afternoon. He has Florida at 25-6 on the season and 16-2 in SEC play. Florida is the No. 1 seed heading into this year's SEC Tournament.
To think that the controversial former head coach at Auburn beat Golden out last season is still wild.
COACH. OF. THE. YEAR. pic.twitter.com/fyzennUZdA
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 9, 2026
Throughout this season, no other team in the SEC could hold a candle to what Florida has been capable of. There have been moments where other high-quality teams such as Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt have briefly looked the part, but nowhere to Florida's current level. It is only fitting that Pearl's son Steven Pearl has Auburn fighting for its NCAA Tournament lives at 16-15.
With how well Florida has played the last few months, the Gators could earn a No. 1 seed this spring.
Todd Golden rights last year's wrong by winning SEC Coach of the Year
When looking back at how last season shook out, Pearl's Tigers finished the season with a 32-6 overall record and a dazzling 15-3 mark in SEC play. Florida ended up going on a 12-game winning streak after losing at rival Georgia en route to a 36-4 national championship-winning season. The Gators were only a game off Auburn's pace in league play at 14-4. How far did Auburn make it again?
Auburn got off to a strong 7-0 start before falling at Duke in the ACC-SEC challenge in early December 2024. The Tigers would win their next five games in the non-conference to close out that portion of schedule with a 12-1 record. In SEC play, Auburn would win its first nine league games before falling at home to ... Florida. They would win six more before dropping its last two that year.
With back-to-back losses to book-end their SEC slate at Texas A&M and home vs. Alabama, Auburn would enter the SEC Tournament as the No. 1 seed. While the Tigers beat No. 8 Ole Miss in the quarterfinals, they lost to No. 4 Tennessee in the semifinals. This got them a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. After making it to the Final Four, guess who they lost to again? That would be Florida!
See, last year's Florida team finished SEC play on a three-game winning streak after losing at rival Georgia. They won all three of the games they played in the SEC Tournament over Missouri, Alabama, and Tennessee. Florida would win all six of its NCAA Tournament games over Norfolk State, UConn, Maryland, Texas Tech, Auburn, and then Houston to claim a national championship as a No. 1 seed.
Ultimately, you can see that everything flipped for the better in March of last year for Florida, whereas Auburn has experienced diminishing returns in that regard since Pearl won SEC Coach of the Year. It just goes to show that there is no good kind of nepotism out there. Furthermore, whenever you feel or get slighted, put your head down and go to work. Golden was rewarded for his efforts this season.
Florida might not repeat as national champions, but the Gators are on a shortlist of who could do so.