Todd Golden reveals why Florida was such an easy sell for him

Florida head basketball coach Todd Golden made an appearance at the Gators spring game alongside women’s basketball coach Kelly Rae Finley, who was just recently hired as well. He was grabbed for an interview and Golden made sure to emphasize to Gators fans why he chose to leave San Francisco for the Florida job.

“It was an easy sell for me,” Golden said during the third quarter. “This is a great place and I think this is a place where you can perennially compete for national championships. That’s something that I was looking to do in my next step next, my next evolution as a coach, and as soon as [Florida athletic director] Scott [Stricklin] gave me this opportunity, it was an easy choice.”

Golden brings multiple years of SEC experience from 2014 through 2016 under Bruce Pearl at Auburn. He worked at Columbia as an assistant before then from 2012-2014, then became an assistant at San Francisco from 2017-2019 under current Washington State coach Kyle Smith. Golden was promoted to head coach in 2019 after that move.

He led San Francisco to the NCAA Tournament this season with an at-large bid and 10-seed, where his team lost in the opening round to Murray State, but caught the eye of a flailing Florida squad that ended their season losing in the second round of the NIT to Xavier. It’s safe to say Golden is excited to get going in Gainesville.

“It’s an incredible academic school, the fifth best public university in the United States, a place that is used to and has won national championships in a short period of time,” Golden said. “This place expects you to win at a high level and I think that pressure is a privilege.”

While Golden didn’t talk too much hoops Thursday night, he did reveal one tidbit of how he’s planning on structuring his roster next season to keep fans guessing over the summer.

“We’ll add one or two more guys, to the mix and try to build out the roster to the best of our ability,” Golden said. “But as we get into the summer we’ll start working on team stuff, trying to bleed into the fall we’ll really kind of drill down and get into practice.”