Florida Gators coach Todd Golden makes a new hire
GAINESVILLE, Fla — The Florida men’s basketball program now has four assistants on staff, with second-year coach Todd Golden making a new hire this month. The Gators are adding John Andrzejek from Washington State as an assistant coach, giving Golden another branch of the Kyle Smith coaching tree.
The move was first reported by Stadium’s Jeff Goodman. The NCAA Division I Council voted in January to increase assistant coaches for men’s and women’s basketball from three to five. Golden still has one more available hire he can make.
Andrzejek coached in the same capacity for the past four seasons with the Cougars. He becomes the fifth member of Florida’s staff who spent time under Smith, including Golden. Andrzejek and Golden have worked together twice before, first at Columbia (2012-14) and then San Francisco (2016-17).
Both served as Smith’s director of basketball operations at Columbia, with Golden getting elevated to an assistant coach after 2012-13 and Andrzejek being promoted from team manager to DBO in July of 2014. During his second season in that role, Columbia won the most games (25) in program history and a CIT championship.
After two years at Auburn, Golden joined Smith’s first staff at San Francisco along with Andrzejek in their same roles from Columbia. Andrzejek was hired by John Hopkins as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in 2017-18 and spent the following season as Dartmouth’s offensive coordinator before reuniting with Smith at WSU.
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In 2020, ESPN ranked Andrzejek No. 39 on its “40 under 40” list, which recognized the best 40 Division I assistants under 40 years old. Later that year, he was also named the No. 22 recruiter in college basketball by 247Sports.com and helped the Cougars land Mouhamed Gueye and Efe Abogid.
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Goodman reports that Andrzejek has extensive international recruiting expertise as well as a deep knowledge of basketball analytics. He was also director of basketball operations with the East Coast USA squad that played throughout Finland, Estonia, France, and Italy in 2014 and 2015, working under former South Carolina head coach Frank Martin.
Andrzejek joins associate head coaches Carlin Hartman and Korey McCray and assistant coach Kevin Hovde on Golden’s staff. Hartman served as Smith’s associate head coach at Columbia, while Hovde worked for him at Columbia and San Francisco along with UF’s Jonathan Safir, director of basketball strategy and analytics.
