Todd Golden reflects on coaching journey, arrival in Gainesville

The Florida basketball program is looking for new life after former coach Mike White departed for the Georgia job in the offseason. To that end, athletics director Scott Stricklin turned to a young up-and-coming coach, picking San Francisco’s Todd Golden as the Gators’ next coach.

Golden is 37, with a background in analytics and European basketball. He thinks both will give him some unique opportunities trying to do what White could not: to maintain and elevate the level Billy Donovan built the program up to over a 19-year career in Gainesville.

“You look back, and when I was playing from 2004 to 2008, Florida won two NCAA championships back-to-back,” Golden said. “We have that.

“Obviously, what coach Donovan was able to do and coach (Lon) Kruger before him. The success has been there before, and coach (Mike) White did a good job as well, and I think we’re in position to capitalize on that as well.”

White’s stint at Florida did get off to a promising start, with Florida reaching the Elite Eight in his second season in charge.

But the program really stagnated after that, with the Gators failing to reach 20 wins in his last three seasons at the helm. Florida missed the NCAA Tournament entirely last year. Making sure Donovan’s relatively recent history doesn’t become entirely a thing of the past will be one of Golden’s chief charges.

“From a basketball standpoint, obviously, the history and tradition in the fact that it’s something that you can point to that it’s not it too long ago,” Golden said, “When I was at San Francisco, we had some great history and tradition, but that was back in the ’50s and ’60s, long before any of our student-athletes had any clue what was going on.”

Todd Golden, Gators will have touch of European influence

Now with the Gators, Todd Golden finished his playing days at St. Mary’s and then briefly headed overseas for a couple years, where he played for Maccabi Haifa in Israel.

That small bit of international influence still impacts his coaching style.

“Not a lot, but a decent amount of what we do offensively is derived from that,” Golden said. “I think that was a great experience to kind of learn different styles and different ways to play offensively and defensively.”

The other thing it affords Golden? A natural in to talk with his players about how to build a career professionally and begin cultivating skills that might be necessary overseas.

Because, let’s face it, while many players have NBA aspirations, the numbers in terms of making it to the next level aren’t nearly as favorable as football, where about 250 players are drafted each year. Florida eventually would like to produce more NBA-ready talent — only two players directly departed from Florida have been drafted since 2013 — the reality is that it may take some time to build to that level again.

Golden, who spent time briefly working in the private sector in advertising sales after his playing days in Israel, can help provide a well-rounded outlook for his players, on a very relatable level.

“I think it gives me a little more — the ability to talk to our guys in terms of how to be professionals and how to attack being a pro in regards to academics and athletics on a day-to-day basis,” Golden said.

He has enjoyed settling into Gainesville so far, with the season now closing in.

“It’s a great city, great place to raise a family for my wife and I,” Golden said of his new location. “It’s a great college town, but it’s also big enough where you can find different places where you don’t necessarily feel like you’re right around the college campus. That’s unique.”