Todd Golden shares what his recruiting philosophy will be at Florida

The Florida Gators have officially introduced Todd Golden the school’s new head men’s basketball coach, replacing Mike White. Golden had his introductory press conference earlier this week. During the press conference, Golden was asked to break down his philosophy when it comes to recruiting, and how he plans to attack that while at Florida.

Ultimately, Golden wants to bring in quality athletes that are passionate about playing for Florida.

“You recruit to what you want to coach,” Golden said of his recruiting philosophy at Florida. “We’re going to look for really smart, motivated student athletes, obviously high, high level basketball players. Guys that have great attitudes, great work ethics. Most importantly, really want to be at the University of Florida. I can’t speak to that enough. Obviously I want guys to come play for me and my staff, but I want them to be passionate about being here, about making this place great.

“So we’re going to go out on the trail and tirelessly look for guys that fit that mold. We’re going to try to recruit the best, we’re going to go for the best players in the country. We’re going to try to build a fence around the state of Florida. Make sure that we’re involved with every great student athlete within this footprint and then we’ll go regionally, we’ll look internationally, we’ll look in the portal, we’ll do everything that we need to do. But the main key is recruiting highly motivated student athletes that are great basketball players that are passionate and prideful for being here at the University of Florida.”

Golden wants to recruit internationally at Florida

In addition to traditional recruiting within the country, Golden has used international recruiting in his previous coaching experiences. Golden compiled a 57-35 record as a head coach at San Francisco, leading the Dons to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed this season. His ability to bring in international recruits played a big role in San Francisco’s success.

Now, Golden wants to carry that international philosophy with recruiting with him to Florida, and bring more international players to the SEC.

“It’s something that at the University of San Francisco was a really, really good piece for us,” Golden said of recruiting internationally. We were able to build relationships all through Europe, Australia, and there’s a lot of talented kids over there. And transparently, not a lot of them have come to the SEC yet. You see them in different leagues across the country, some on the west coast. I think it’s an area that we can go and attack and bring some really talented kids over here.”

Florida missed the NCAA Tournament this season, and lost in the second round of the NIT Tournament to Xavier. The Gators finish the season with a 20-14 record.