Todd Golden named head coach

Tony Jones, who you credit with recruiting Jared Harper, resigned from Auburn, well over a year before Jared Harper came to Auburn. Jones and Golden both played a part in landing Harper. I may have to eat a little crow on Bryce Brown. And I will if I'm wrong.

If you've done your homework on Golden, then you should have noticed a very distinct pattern in his career. Everyone who has ever bet on Todd Golden in College Basketball has been a winner. Moreover, the same people KEEP betting on Todd Golden when it comes too coaching for them, and he keeps making them a winner.

St. Mary's Assistant Kyle Smith recruited Golden as a preferred Walk-on in 2003. Golden then vastly overachieved, becoming a three year starter andTeam Captain who shot over 45% from 3-point land as a senior.

Golden met Bruce Pearl when he played with Pearl's son Steven, in Australia in 2006.

Fast forward to 2009: at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel-Todd Golden, captain of USA Open Team, won the Gold Medal with Bruce Pearl as his coach.

Fast Forward to 2012: After working almost 3 years at a "Real Job" as a High Profile Advertising Salesman in San Francisco, an unhappy Todd Golden got a call from Kyle Smith. Kyle Smith, then Head Basketball Coach at Columbia hired Todd Golden to join him on the East Coast.

Fast Forward to 2014: Auburn's newly hired Bruce Pearl hires Golden to join his program.

Fast Forward to 2016: Kyle Smith, now the head coach at San Francisco hires Golden away from Auburn to join his staff (Maybe Golden figured out everything wasn't as kosher at Auburn as he was led to believe, and that's why he left for San Francisco).

Fast Forward to 2019: Joan McDermott, AD at the University of San Francisco hires Todd Golden to be head coach after Kyle Smith goes to Washington State.

Kyle Smith, Bruce Pearl, and Joan McDermott, have seen Golden produce and they keep hiring and promoting and hiring him. These are facts.

You are right that I have no verifiable proof that Golden was on every P5 AD's shortlist, but I have a collection of facts, over a number of years, that prove for Golden not to have been on every P5 AD's shortlist would appear to make said AD's negligent.

I never stated Golden was every AD's de facto hire and that certainly isn't the case among fans on the East Coast.

Florida has just been burned by an up and coming mid major coach, who happened to be a pretty nice guy, but who was also very narrow minded in his coaching.

Golden's International connections give him an edge in recruiting, as Mark Few, and now Tommy Lloyd have demonstrated. His work with analytics appears to be as good as anyone in college hoops, and early in his head coaching career he already has led San Francisco to a KenPom ranking of 23rd. Mike White, with all the resources he had at his disposal, has Florida slotted in KenPom #62.

This whole thing will be proven out in 3-5 years. I am optimistic as I look forward to when the time comes to judge Todd Golden, and look forward to reminding some people about it.

 

they need more than that. If fans aren’t in their seats just drinking in private booths, let fans fill in till they get back. No need to flip the cameras.
We need a staff dedicated for

Don’t worry, we will all be here, God willing, to discuss where the program is. Hopefully to recite positive results!

 

My previous reply was based off of what you articulated.
While the history lesson dating back to TG playing days is nice, it is not indicative of of his ability to coach at any level. To me that is irrelevant. Jerry Stackhouse was a hell of a player, too.

Tony Jones resigned (really fired) '15 in May. Jared Harper enrolled in class of '16. Regardless was just going off your retort. Actually interesting to know that TG left in '16. So he was on campus when everything unraveled at AU (and also there when some interesting things were happening prior until they got caught). Maybe he'll be smarter than Pearl when it comes to NCAA.

This is what I know. As a coach for three years, he had one decent season, one horrific, and one being good (this year) with an overall record of 57-36. Data is fact. As of now, I do stand by my opinion regarding the hire. Maybe agree to disagree. I would hope in your timeframe of 3-5 years there would be some modicum of success.

 

Outstanding points. I swear some people just look for a reason to be the black cloud when they literally have no idea (and couldn’t be more wrong as you mentioned with BD and Urban)

 

The bottom line….ALL the people that are way more in the know than posters here….
Like coaches that are in the game, people that work directly with Golden…..they ALL seem to think it’s a home run hire.
Much more so than several other hires that are happening.
But some people still talk about only 3 years, had a losing record one year….

Well Mike White had winning records and everyone could see the program was going in the wrong direction.

Now get Golden with talent like he’s never had, with his coaching brain…..this feels like a slam dunk

 

Yes Jeff we will…Tampa saying “I miss MW”

 

Lots of personal bio in this interview with new Head Coach Todd Golden
Todd is very energetic, big bright personality
43 minutes
Highly recommended

 

Each year the Gator basketball coach should have 4 goals and all they need to do is accomplish one of them for Gator fans to be happy. Win the SEC regular season, win the SEC tourney, make the final 4 or win the ncaa tourney. MW had 7 seasons to accomplish one of these goals and never did so let's hope the new coach can achieve one of these accomplishments.

 

I would settle for being in the top four in the SEC or making the final four of the SEC tournament on a yearly basis (being in the top two or championship game every third or fourth year); or the Sweet Sixteen on a regular basis (every third or fourth year, often enough that commentators don't sound surprised or talk about how long it has been).

 

Oh, is that all? Just do one of those? Easy peasy.

 

I LOVE Todd Golden's energy, enthusiasm and experiences
This LOOKS like a five star hire

"Energetic" in his approach to the job
"Personable" when dealing with players and families
"Innovative" relative to preparation and game-day tactics
"High character, high integrity, high substance"
"Young, hungry, innovative and good with people"
"Poised, polished, confident and excited about the challenge"



A Golden State Gator Tale - Florida Gators

Todd Golden hire has golden potential for Gators, but plenty of risk, too

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...b4cce0-a6e4-11ec-8628-3da4fa8f8714_story.html

https://www.on3.com/teams/florida-gators/news/todd-golden-florida-gators-job-billy-donovan-bruce-pearl/

Florida Gators hire San Francisco's Todd Golden to be men's basketball coach

Florida hires San Francisco's Golden as men's hoops coach

 

Todd Golden went to Saint Mary's as a walk-on and became a three-year starting point guard for a team that went to a pair of NCAA Tournaments. He ranked second in the nation with a 3.68 assist-to-turnover radio and led the West Coast Conference by shooting 57.3 percent from the 3-point line. He finished his career with the Lions as the program's all-time leader in free-throw percentage (.852) and eighth in career assists (269).

 

Appears to be an over-achiever like Billy D. Point guards with real confidence. I like White but always felt he was the point guard who fought hard but never had real confidence.

 

What do you mean by support? If it more than just a better arena in which to play? What quantifiably is missing from UF that other perennial programs have? As far as fan support, whatever that means, of a team wins the fans show up.

 

Golden's teams are known for their up-tempo style of play, but also for how hard they play. His background as a walk-on who made himself into a Division-I starter is reflected in what he demands of his players, starting with "being elite" in areas that do not require talent; like effort, fight, passion and intelligence.

As for his coaching philosophy, it's heavily influenced by analytics. As a player, Golden used to calculate plus-minus differentials for his team's various lineups in his head and in real time while on the floor, then relay ratios to his coaches. Now as a head coach, Golden has an assistant who oversees all analytics and uses the data to make strategic moves and adjustments, some of which can only be viewed as non-conventional.

And then there's his communications skills. Obviously, they're important on the recruiting trail and in the locker room, but Golden also will be asked to take a higher profile in the community and help reenergize the Florida fan base. He enthusiastically accepted.

"Wayne Gretzky used to say you don't skate where the puck is, you skate where the puck is going to be," Scott Stricklin said. "I think Todd is going to be a big part of the future of college basketball. His ceiling is incredibly high and he fits the model of coaches who have come in and won championships. [Baseball's] Kevin O'Sullivan had been never been a head coach before. Tim Walton and 'Mouse' Holloway [softball and track, respectively] had never been coaches at this level. And neither had Billy Donovan. Those coaches fit a profile; young, hungry, innovative and good with people. I think Todd Golden's values align with what works and what is successful at the University of Florida."

A Golden State Gator Tale - Florida Gators

 

I’d rather we talk about our new young, energetic, smart, hard working , coach. His name is Todd Golden.

 

“This guy is going to be a star,” said an industry source familiar with the search. “In five years, everybody’s going to know who Todd Golden is.”

Todd’s a sharp dude,” one SEC assistant told The Athletic. “He’ll do awesome down there at Florida.”

Washington State head coach Kyle Smith:
I told Bruce Pearl when he hired Todd in 2014, ‘Put him on the road now. Don’t goof around with it, because he’s big-time good,’” Smith said. “He’s just super-talented, a sharp guy and very charismatic.”

Just like with Billy Donovan, there’s some NBA potential for Todd down the line as well,” a source said. “The Warriors have been to his practices. The Lakers know about him, too. He has a Steve Kerr vibe to him.”

Gators hire 'rising star' in Todd Golden, 36, whose analytics-driven success has impressed in NCAA (and NBA) circles

 

I thought Walton did some time at Wichita State as their head coach prior to joining the gators?

I think people/administration need to stop comparing every young coach to Billy D -- Billy D is a top 5 college basketball of all time (my opinion), a once in a generation coach. Best of the Best.
My pantheon of modern day college bball coaches is
Coach K
Roy Williams (even though i hate him)
Jay Wright
Billy D
Jim Calhoun

I think every college coach is using analytics. How deep they dive in is a different story, but basketball is a statistics driven sport. But similar to others, the only one that matters regardless of how bad you shoot, or how many FTs you missed -- did you win the game.

 

Scott Stricklin said Tim Walton had never been a head coach "at this level."

Tim Walton
Coaching Experience
2010, 2011 USSSA Florida Pride (NPF), Head Coach
2003-05 Wichita State University, Head Coach

 

A BIG Thank You! to @thatguy for trying to re-direct the discussion to Coach Golden, where it started.

No more arguments for or against Coach White in this thread . . . please.