Todd Golden shares message from Billy Donovan

Florida named Todd Golden its next basketball coach shortly after the departure of former head coach Mike White, ushering in a new era for the Gators. As the gold standard for the program, both incoming and outgoing coaches have been compared to Billy Donovan and measured by how their accomplishments stack up against his.

During his introductory press conference, Todd Golden revealed that he has a conversation with Billy Donovan, now the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, during the hiring process.

“I was able to talk to coach Donovan last Saturday for about 30 minutes,” said Golden. “It gave me goosebumps really the whole time we were chatting because he was so unselfish, so willing to be a resource to me. He said he was willing to help as much or as little as possible. Talked about how passionate him and his family were about Gainesville, and how big of a part that this place played in his life, in his family’s life, the maturation of his kids. He considers this place home, and it’s really important to him that this place is great.

“He said, ‘you don’t have to worry about me.’ And I said, ‘coach, I’m going to be calling you a lot, don’t worry.’ I want to pick his brain, I want him to be a big resource for me. He’s a guy I look up to, both from a coaching standpoint but also as a man. Everything I hear from others is about how great of a person he is. I got a chance to meet him a couple years ago when they practiced in our gym at San Francisco. I’m going to strive to have the same amount of success and to lead in a similar way that coach Donovan did.”

Todd Golden on Billy Donovan at Florida

In addition to recounting his recent conversation with Billy Donovan, Todd Golden recalled his impression of the Florida program from his playing days.

“It’s funny how things come full circle, because coach Donovan’s two championships were during my time as a player at St. Mary’s,” said Golden. “So obviously I was following those games and those teams very closely. Incredible job by him, first of all to get that team back for the second year, to get these guys to – similar to what we talked about – putting the team first. Those guys turned down a lot of money to come back and do it again together here at Florida.”