How Todd Golden's Year 2 stacks up against past Gators coaches

Year 2 of the Todd Golden era as Florida Gators basketball coach is going well, to say the least. The Gators are in the top half of the SEC standings, and are a team possibly capable of making noise in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. How does Golden’s second season compare to those of his most recent predecessors in Gainesville? Here’s a closer look:

TODD GOLDEN (2022-24)
Year 1: 16–17, NIT First Round
Year 2: 21-9 entering Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt.
411: The Gators, after an up-and-down first season for Golden, are primed to make the NCAA Tournament — and most current projections have them in the range of a 6 or 7 speed.

MIKE WHITE (2015-22)
Year 1: 21–15, NIT Quarterfinals
Year 2: 27–9, NCAA Elite Eight
411: White replaced legendary coach Billy Donovan, who some may forget actually had a losing record in his final season in Gainesville. White’s first roster included three players who made the NBA — senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith, sophomore forward Devin Robinson and sophomore guard Chris Chiozza. All three players were brought to Gainesville by Donovan.

White’s first Gators team went 4-6 in its final 10 regular-season games and fell to eighth in the SEC. In Year 2, however, the Gators were second in the SEC behind Kentucky. Florida made the NCAA Tournament as a 4 seed and reached the Elite Eight. The Gators haven’t made it that far since.

Playing for a spot in the Final Four, Florida lost to 7-seed South Carolina 77-70. Chiozza and Devin Robinson were the only two players on the roster to reach the NBA. But it was sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen who led the team in scoring (14.0). Senior guard Canyon Barry, a transfer from College of Charleston, was next (11.4). Eight players on the Year 2 roster averaged 7.2 points or more.

Chiozza’s 3-pointer, one of the most memorable shots in program history, beat Wisconsin in overtime of the Sweet 16. The Gators finished 10th in the final Coaches Poll. White never made it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament again. However, one of his assistant coaches — Dusty May — did, as head coach at Florida Atlantic last season.

White, now the coach at Georgia, went 142–88 at Florida with four NCAA Tournament appearances. His leaving for Athens cleared the way for the Gators to hire Golden from San Francisco.

BILLY DONOVAN (1996-2015)
Year 1: 13–17
Year 2: 14–15, NIT First Round
411: Two years removed from the school’s first-ever Final Four, Florida had slumped to 12-16 record under Lon Kruger in 1996. When he left for Illinois, the Gators hired the 30-year-old Donovan, a former Providence star who was coach at Marshall at that time.

Standout Florida forward Dametri Hill had completed his eligibility the season before Donovan arrived, but a few solid young players returned for Donovan’s first season, including forward Greg Stolt and guards Eddie Shannon and Greg Williams. Florida went just 5-11 in conference play and was fifth in the old SEC East Division.

In Year 2 for Donovan, the Gators actually fell backward to sixth in the East Division but made postseason play. Stolt and Shannon again had productive seasons, as did sophomore guard Kenyan Weaks. The star, however, was Marshall transfer guard Jason Williams.

As a transfer, he had to redshirt in Donovan’s first season. But in Year 2 for Donovan, Williams averaged 17.1 points and 6.7 assists while playing in 20 games with 17 starts. In one game, he had a school-record 17 assists. In another, he was the hero as unranked Florida beat No. 7 Kentucky at Rupp Arena. His success in Gainesville was short-lived.

In February of that season, the school suspended Williams after violating team and athletic department policy. It was his third and final violation and Williams never played for the Gators again. After going No. 7 overall in the NBA Draft that year, he went on to have a solid pro career.

Meanwhile, the Gators reached the NIT, but lost to John Thompson’s Georgetown team at home, 71-69. Williams was the only player from that Florida team to reach the NBA. However, a few players on the roster that season would help the Gators go 29-8 and reach the NCAA championship game just two seasons later — Weaks, freshman forward Brent Wright and freshman forward Major Parker. Donovan would win 467 games at Florida, reach the Final Four four times and claim two national titles.

LON KRUGER (1990-96)
Year 1: 11–17
Year 2: 19–14, NIT Semifinal
411: The season before Kruger arrived in Gainesville from Kansas Sate (his alma mater) had been the mother of all Gators basketball disasters. The team had to fire longtime coach Norm Sloan over NCAA infractions shortly before the season. With practically nowhere to turn, the Gators hired former Tennessee coach Don DeVoe as interim coach. He went just 7-21 and pretty much left a trail of destruction that season.

But the Gators actually returned a decent core for Kruger’s first season that included senior center Dwayne Davis and senior forward Livingston Chatman. Davis led the team in scoring (15.1) and Chatman was solid, though he once had been a freshman star before major injuries altered the trajectory of his career.

Sophomore forward Stacey Poole, who like Chatman wasn’t what he could have been at Florida due to injuries, also was a starter on the team. Freshman guard Craig Brown, who later would star for Kruger’s Final Four team in 1994, was a key freshman backup.

Year 2 for Kruger saw the Gators make a significant jump. Poole led Florida in scoring (17.8), Brown emerged as a standout and two talented freshmen made their presence known — center Andrew DeClercq and guard Dan Cross. The Gators finished second in the SEC Eastern Division then won three games in the NIT. Florida was again an NIT team the following season, but then reached the NCAA Final Four for the first time in program history in 1994
thanks largely to the efforts of Brown, Cross and DeClercq. From that group, only DeClercq reached the NBA.

Kruger went 104–80 in six seasons in Gainesville. All told, he was 674–432 at the college level. He later also reached the Final Four at Oklahoma. Additionally, Kruger was an NBA head coach for three seasons.