Auburn assistant Steven Pearl, Florida coach Todd Golden reuniting on the court in SEC opener

AUBURN — Steven Pearl remembers looking down at his Apple watch during halftime of last March’s NCAA Tournament game between Auburn and Jacksonville State and being quite surprised at the ESPN notification that dinged across the face of his watch.

It was a notification saying San Francisco head coach Todd Golden was taking over the head coaching position at Florida.

“Holy …,” Pearl remembers saying aloud. Bruce Pearl looked at Steven and asked, “what?” The younger Pearl said, “nothing, nothing.”

Pearl remembers being “so proud” that Golden got the Florida head coaching job, saying he was “deserving” of one of the best basketball jobs in America.

“When I got the phone call, I took it right away,” Pearl said. “He’s going to do a great job.”

Steven Pearl and Todd Golden go way back. They played together as Jewish-Americans on the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team, winning a gold medal at the 2006 Maccabi Games. They were reunited when Golden joined Bruce Pearl’s first basketball staff at Auburn in 2014. Golden was the director of basketball operations for the 2014-15 season and was elevated to an assistant coaching position for the 2015-16 campaign. 

Golden, just 36-years-old, led USF to a 57-36 record over three seasons as head coach, including 20-win seasons in both 2019-20 and 2021-22. His background includes time coaching within the Southeastern Conference and the Ivy League before his time in the West Coast Conference.

Now, the Pearls and Golden face each other for the first time in SEC play, as No 20 Auburn hosts Florida in both teams’ SEC opener inside Neville Arena.

“It’s tough. I’m cheering for him every game of his career until tomorrow night,” Pearl said. “I’m always his biggest fan. I’d stay up late to watch his games at San Francisco. We worked together for a few years, so this one is tough. He’s like a brother to me, and like a son to BP. It’s difficult, but once we step in that rectangle, we’re going to try and get the win and do everything we can to get the win.”

Just how close are Pearl and Golden?

The Golden family plans on eating dinner with Pearl and his wife at their house on Tuesday night. Golden jokingly told Pearl that he’s a “game time” decision for showing up for dinner. Pearl has jokes of his own, telling his wife to crack open the red wine in case Golden does show up “because we’re going to try and get some of the game plan out of him as best we can.”

“We’re going to have dinner, then Todd will come over after he’s done with the team,” Pearl said. “He’s probably the only coach in America that I’d be willing to spend any time with the night before a game. I have some good friends in the profession, but he’s the only one I’d be comfortable doing that with.”

Golden is known for his love of basketball analytics. In fact, Pearl said that Golden introduced Pearl the KenPom rankings and analytics that are now widely used amongst college basketball coaches across the country. Pearl has continued to utilize analytics, aiding Auburn basketball’s ascent to multiple league championships.

“It’s been a big part of his success, and a lot of the things he taught us, we use on a day-to-day basis here at Auburn,” Pearl said. “It’s been a big part of our success as well.”

There’s also another element to what’s happening on Wednesday night. Both Pearls, along with Golden, are Jewish-Americans. It’s a rare sight, if it’s even happened before, to see Jewish-Americans leading two of the best basketball programs in the SEC.

Pearl is encouraged by the progress it signals.

“It shows how far we’ve come as a country,” Pearl said. “You have African-American coaches in the SEC, Jewish-American coaches in the SEC, in one of the best basketball conferences in all of college basketball. That shows you a lot. People give the south a bad wrap, but I think it’s a wonderful place, and a very inclusive place. To put Jewish men and African-American men in positions of power shows you how far this country has come and how great a country we live in. It speaks volumes.”

During Golden’s time at Auburn, players like Horace Spencer, Bryce Brown, Danjel Purifoy, Mustapha Heron, Austin Wiley, Jared Harper and Anfernee McLemore all signed with the Tigers’ program. Golden played an important role in helping build the foundation of what Auburn basketball is today.

“Todd was here in the first two years when we were rebuilding a program,” Pearl said. “Todd did an unbelievable job of us getting our grounding. He brought in guys that helped us get connections in recruiting — his basketball mind, and his analytics, was a big part of having sustained success at Auburn.”