Unless you made up your mind about Golden already, like before picking a suspiciously dated handle upon registering here in September, lol
That's right and I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that this is the return of another former poster.
Glad we all agree to one must way for sufficient evidence before deciding we have a good coach. (Deciding we have a bad coach, now THAT trigger should be pulled early.)
I have been around here for 20 years, and it's hard to imagine who it might be. But it has to be someone who was on these boards during the Donovan tenure.
If you’re thinking of who I think you are, we would have heard about a zillion opinions from him by now.
I was here during the Donovan years, before he won the back to back championships. I knew it was only a matter of time for BD to take Florida to levels of success that they had never seen because he was an excellent coach and recruiter. I doubt we as fans will see Florida even come close to that sustained level of basketball success again, at least in the foreseeable future. Had big hopes for White, got big disappointment. Not excited with what I’m seeing as an in game coach with Golden either to be honest. Yeah he’s young and could potentially improve but it’s disheartening that after Donovan we are content with going after coaches that have potential instead of proven winners. White had never taken a team to the NCAA tournament prior to Florida and Golden has only got one invite and was quickly dismissed by McMahon and Murray State. We once were Kentucky’s biggest threat in conference and now we are either mid(in good years) or lower half in the conference. Gator basketball was must watch tv when Donovan was coaching but now I’ll only watch a game if I don’t have anything else to do. Well, at we were elite for a while so there’s that. At least we can have our memories, lol.
"I miss Coach Donovan and advocate a policy that wouldn't have hired Coach Donovan." As a sidenote, this policy also wouldn't have hired the head coach of very obviously the best SEC program the last few years. Nate Oats came from four seasons as HC of Buffalo out of the Mighty MAC! But hey, his previous HC gig was (searches notes) Romulus HS, the pride of (searches notes) Romulus, Michigan. Though presumably an ELITE high school, so meets the criteria.
Florida basketball had been to one Final Four in the school’s entire history prior to Donovan so it would have been hard to hire a proven winner unless they wanted to break the bank. Hiring a young unproven coach like Donovan was the only choice as the AD wasn’t going to spend top five highest paid coaches type money. Florida got lucky that Donovan was exactly what they needed. After Donovan, Florida had gained respect as a basketball program and had won two championships. Now the job was a higher level job that could attract proven winners. But, I suppose the thought was they got lucky with Donovan so let’s try it again. I think they pressed their luck too far because White certainly wasn’t the answer and I have my doubts that Golden is either.
Lots of basketball left for sure. even unc only has 1 quad 1 win right now. Bottom line we can't lose more than 1 of these sec game: cocks, vandy, ole miss, arkansas, vandy, georgia and lsu that has to be at least 6 wins of those 7 SEC games. Figure we lose all 4 to Tenn, Kentucky, Bama, Kentucky Is that enough to get us in the Dance. SEC 10 Wins and 8 loses or SEC 11 Wins and 7 Loses. ironic as well, talking about previous coaches with Kansas State looming on the schedule -- Lon came to us from Kansas State.
Well tonight was the stamp of approval for this thread. You were “comparing” the 6 new coaches in conference. To the untrained eye, CTG looked at the bottom with a 7-6 record, only narrowly topping SC at 6-6. However, you failed to mention the losses were to Xavier, WV, UConn, OU, etc……no comparison to the schedules from the other teams. CTG’s team is getting better each game, competing big time every game, and he just polished off a 5-0 record vs all of the other ones you listed. Comparison answered. CTG is definitively the best of the group.
And, tbh, most of those games against other first year coaches really weren’t even close. And look at the records of some of those programs now. Yes, Golden inherited a better roster, but he also played massively better OOC schedule, has turned his kids into one of the better defensive squads in the country, has finally figured out how they play best offensively, and has lost three conference games (two on the road) by one shot each—against top 4 league teams. Who knows what the future holds (though 2024 recruiting has looked great so far), but right now he looks like the best of the hires by far. And he is 36 years old, in only his fourth year as a head coach, and only his third year at a major program in any capacity. fIrE sCoT sTrIkLiN
Name a proven winner that Florida could have hired after White left that would have agreed to the same salary as Golden.
Watching Golden coach is what determined my opinion. I had no preconceived notions either way before I watched several games. If anything, I was hoping he would be the best thing since sliced bread. Too many things that I’ve seen so far that makes me doubtful he is a step up from White. White actually had much better plays for inbounding the ball.
