Florida Gators

Florida record: 76-33/3 seasons; Overall record: 133-69/6 seasons (through 2024-25)

Todd Golden has led the Florida Gators back to the mountaintop.

Just three years, two weeks and six days after his hire as Florida’s head coach was announced, Golden ascended a ladder in San Antonio’s Alamodome to cut down the net as a national champion.

The Gators’ third national title in program history capped a season of historic proportions, as Florida’s 36 wins tied a program record and UF returned to its sixth Final Four and its fifth SEC Tournament title. At 39 years, Golden became the youngest national championship coach since Jim Valvano in 1983.

The championships all came as part of a memorable 12-game win streak to end the season that began March 1. The 12-game run to close the season included nine top-25 wins, a total that eclipsed any full-season total in program history. Eight of the nine ranked wins were vs. teams in the top 12.

The Gators’ run to the title tied for the toughest path all-time for a #1-seed (1993 North Carolina) and the third-toughest in NCAA Tournament history. Florida’s epic run featured four comeback wins, including rallying from 12 points down in the national championship game, closing the game on a 35-21 run over the final 16 minutes.

Florida’s Final Four win vs. one of Golden’s mentors, Bruce Pearl, and overall  #1 tournament seed Auburn saw the Gators bounce back from a 49-40 deficit early in the second half with an 11-0 run to take the lead. UF held a one-point lead at the final media timeout and came out with a 7-0 run to seize control of the game. Final Four Most Outstanding Player Walter Clayton Jr. led the Gators with 34 points, becoming the first player since Larry Bird to post back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and Final Four.

The Gators’ Elite Eight win provided perhaps the best example of the Gators’ resilience and Clayton’s magnificence. Trailing by nine with 3:00 to play, Thomas Haugh hit a pair of 3-pointers to bring Florida within three points. Clayton hit a game-tying 3 with 1:47 to play and, after Texas Tech went up by two, hit his iconic go-ahead dribble-out turnaround 3-pointer with a minute to play.

Florida also ended UConn’s reign in the second round, battling to a hard-fought 77-75 win after trailing by six with nine minutes remaining.

The Gators entered the NCAA Tournament with a No. 1 seed for just the third time in program history, joining the 2007 and 2014 squads as top-seed earners. Florida used the SEC Tournament to get hot, posting a dominant run becoming the first team to knock off three straight ranked opponents to win the event. The Gators averaged 95.0 points per game vs. #21 Missouri, #5 Alabama and #8 Tennessee, including an SEC Tournament-record 104 points in the semifinal win vs. Alabama.

Florida’s 27 regular season wins marked the second-most in program history (29, 2013-14), and the Gators posted a 14-4 record in an SEC that ranked among the best conferences in college basketball history.

The Gators ended the season on a 12-game winning streak starting on March 1 that saw UF knock off nine top-25 teams, eight of which ranked in the top 12. Florida finished the season 8-2 in top-10 matchups, including wins in the final seven, after entering the season 6-16 all-time in such matchups.

Florida doubled its all-time wins vs. the #1 team during the regular season, routing top-ranked Tennessee in Gainesville and picking up a road win at Auburn. The 73-43 win over the Vols was the largest defeat of a #1 team since UCLA’s 32-point win vs. Houston in the 1968 Final Four and the third-largest against a top-ranked team all-time.

The Gators bounced back from an early 10-point deficit at Auburn, outscoring the Tigers 43-23 over the final 14 minutes of the first half and eventually leading by as many as 21.
The pair of #1 wins were Florida’s first ever in regular season play. Coupled with the Auburn win, the Gators’ road win at #7 Alabama gave UF multiple top-10 road wins in a season for the first time.

Golden earned Naismith Coach of the Year semifinalist recognition, while Clayton became the first first-team All-American in Florida history. Clayton also captured Final Four and NCAA West Region Most Outstanding Player and SEC Tournament MVP. Will Richard, Golden’s first commit as Florida head coach, led the Gators with 18 points and eight rebounds in the national championship game to earn Final Four All-Tournament Team honors.

The story of the season was the masterful roster construction by Golden and staff. The Gators kept up the elite offensive production from the previous season while jumping from 94th to sixth in defensive efficiency. In addition to an added focus on that side of the ball, the improvement can also be credited to the identification and recruitment of Alijah Martin and Rueben Chinyelu, who brought an added dimension of toughness and physicality to the Gators’ 2024-25 edition.

Florida immediately showed signs of promise with a 13-0 start to the season, going undefeated through nonconference play. The start featured wins at Florida State, vs. North Carolina in Charlotte, a dominating performance at the ESPN Events Invitational and convincing wins vs. Arizona State in Atlanta and at home vs. Virginia in the inaugural SEC/ACC Challenge.

The senior trio of Clayton, Martin and Richard were the highest-scoring trio in Florida history during the season, and Clayton posted a Florida-record 713 points.
The Gators’ +15.2 scoring margin for the season led the SEC and was the third-highest in program history, while UF set program records for points (3,391), 3-point field goals (390) and field goals (1,182).

Even before the 2025 championship, Golden had the Gators trending up through two seasons at the helm, leading Florida back to the NCAA Tournament in 2024. UF posted 24 wins, its most since 2016-17, and advanced to the SEC Tournament championship game for the first time since 2014.

The Gators tallied four top-25 wins in 2023-24, bringing the team’s total to six under Golden through his first 66 games, the quickest pace by any Florida coach over the last 50 years. Florida had its highest-scoring team in program history with 85.7 points per game, ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, rebounds per game, offensive rebounds per game and offensive rebounding percentage.

Florida’s overtime win at 10th-ranked Kentucky marked Florida’s first top-10 road win since 2003 and the 12th all-time win at Kentucky.

Florida backed up the win at Kentucky with a home victory over #12 Auburn, an 81-65 rout that UF led by as many as 29. The Gators closed their home season in style with a 105-87 win vs. #16 Alabama, the most points UF has ever scored in regulation vs. a ranked opponent. Just 10 days later, Florida blitzed 18th-ranked Alabama, 102-88, in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.

In UF’s first SEC Tournament semifinal since 2019, the Gators battled back from 18 points down to defeat Texas A&M, marking the fifth-largest comeback in team history and earning the first trip to the SEC Tournament championship game since 2014.

The Gators’ success grew directly out of Golden and his staff’s evaluation and recruiting efforts in 2023, as four incoming transfers were regular starters, including three All-SEC players in Walter Clayton Jr., Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel. Unranked freshmen Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh provided valuable frontcourt minutes, with Condon earning SEC All-Freshman recognition.

Clayton and Pullin became Florida’s first duo of All-SEC guards in 11 years and Florida’s #8 scoring duo over the past 50 seasons. Clayton, Pullin and Samuel became the first trio in Florida history to all score 500 points in a season. Samuel, who earned AP All-SEC honors, posted 11 double-doubles, the most by a Gator since Al Horford’s 16 in 2006-07.

Seven different players combined for 38 total 20-point performances, including eight games with multiple 20-point scorers and one game (the road win at Kentucky) with three 20-point scorers. Those eight games with multiple 20-point scorers match Florida’s total such games over the previous six seasons.

Pullin, who earned first-team All-SEC honors, posted a Florida-record 3.77 assist-to-turnover ratio, a number that also ranked #1 among all SEC players during the 2000s.

Clayton earned SEC All-Tournament Team honors, averaging 18.5 points as the Gators played four games in four days. The Lake Wales native followed that up with 33 points in the NCAA Tournament game vs. Colorado, including 26 in the second half and the Gators’ final 16 points of the game.

Samuel stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots in the win at Kentucky, becoming the first player in the nation since Tim Duncan to post that line in a top-10 road win.

Alex Condon, UF’s leading shot-blocker, also became the first Gator in the 2000s to grab 10 offensive rebounds in a game (at Ole Miss) and became the first Florida freshman in the 2000s to post multiple 15-rebound games.

In Golden’s first season at UF in 2022-23, the Gators earned a postseason berth and multiple top-25 wins as Golden became the first Florida coach to accomplish both of those benchmarks in his first season.

The inaugural season of the Golden Era was highlighted by a win vs. second-ranked Tennessee, which matched the highest-ranked win both in regular season win and at home win in Florida history. The Gators also topped #20 Missouri, as Golden joined John Lotz and Tommy Bartlett as the only first-year coaches at Florida to record multiple top-25 wins.
Florida topped rival Florida State in Tallahassee, as the Gators staged a 19-point comeback – fourth-largest in program history – to earn the team’s first road win in the series since 2012.

Colin Castleton earned first-team All-SEC and All-Defensive Team was named USA Today’s SEC Defensive Player of the Year, as he set a Florida record and ranked third in the nation with 3.0 blocked shots per game before suffering a season-ending broken hand on Feb. 15. In addition, Riley Kugel earned SEC All-Freshman honors, as his 12.6 points per game in SEC play marked the most by a Gator freshman in more than a decade (Bradley Beal, 2011-12).

The Gators found an identity on the defensive side of the ball, climbing into the top 10 in KenPom’s defensive efficiency ratings during the course of the season prior to Castleton’s injury. The Gators’ 5.18 blocked shots per game ranked eighth in the nation.

For just the second time, the Gators capped a season under a first-year head coach with a postseason berth, earning a 4-seed in the National Invitation Tournament.

Golden became the 20th head coach of the Florida Gators on March 18, 2022, after guiding the University of San Francisco to 24 wins and its first NCAA Tournament bid since 1998 in the 2021-22 season. Golden led the Dons to a 57-36 record over three seasons as head coach, including 20-win seasons in both 2019-20 and 2021-22.

Prior to being named the Dons’ head coach, Golden spent the previous three seasons as San Francisco’s associate head coach under Kyle Smith. In Golden’s six total seasons at USF, the Dons posted at least 20 wins in all seasons except the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign.

Golden led the USF program in the highly-competitive West Coast Conference, which consistently ranks among the nation’s toughest mid-major conferences. Over the past three seasons, the WCC has been on average KenPom’s strongest-rated conference outside of the traditional power-six leagues and the American Athletic Conference.

During his stint as associate head coach at USF, he served as the Dons’ recruiting and defensive coordinator under Smith. San Francisco finished within KenPom’s top 100 defensively five times during Golden’s stint, highlighted by this season’s No. 21 ranking. The Dons complemented their defensive effort with a top-100 offense each of the past four seasons, including a pair of top-50 offenses in 2018-19 and 2021-22.

During Golden’s three seasons as head coach at USF, six different players received eight total all-conference accolades. Three players earned All-WCC honors in 2021-22, with Jamaree Bouyea, Yauhen Massalski and Khalil Shabazz all garnering recognition. Shabazz also earned all-conference honors in 2021, with Dzmitry Ryuny receiving an honorable mention nod. In 2020, Charles Mineland earned All-WCC honors with Bouyea and Jimbo Lull named honorable mention.

Prior to joining Smith’s staff in 2016, Golden spent two seasons at the Auburn University under head coach Bruce Pearl. Golden joined the Auburn staff as the director of basketball operations for the 2014-15 season and was elevated to an assistant coaching position for the 2015-16 campaign. He worked closely with the Tigers’ guards and handled all scheduling responsibilities. Golden also took a lead role in analytical and metrics data.

Golden spent the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach on Kyle Smith’s staff at Columbia where he helped the Lions to a 21-13 mark and a spot in the CollegeInsiders.com Tournament. In his only season at Morningside Heights he worked closely with the Lions’ defense that held opponents to a stingy 63.3 points per game, which ranked second-best in the Ivy League and 31st nationally. He also served as director of basketball operations for the 2012-13 season.

Golden played collegiately at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., where he helped the Gaels to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. As a senior point guard, he ranked second in the nation with a 3.68 assists-to-turnovers ratio and led the West Coast Conference with a .574 3-point field goal percentage. The lone captain of Saint Mary’s 2007-08 team, Golden finished his career as the Gaels’ all-time leader in free-throw percentage (.852) and eighth with 269 career assists.

After earning his degree in business administration, Golden played two years professionally for Maccabi Haifa in Israel’s top division. In 2009, he was co-captain of the USA Open Team, coached by Bruce Pearl, that won gold at the Maccabiah Games. Following his playing career, he spent two years working in sales and marketing in the San Francisco Bay Area, spending time with IMG College and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.

Golden is married to the former Megan York, who was a four-year volleyball standout at Saint Mary’s and the WCC’s Co-Freshman of the Year in 2007.


Golden Timeline

2022-present	Florida	Head Coach
2019-22	San Francisco	Head Coach
2016-19	San Francisco	Associate Head Coach
2015-16	Auburn	Assistant Coach
2014-15	Auburn	Director of Basketball Operations
2013-14	Columbia	Assistant Coach
2012-13	Columbia	Director of Basketball Operations
2004-08	Saint Mary’s	Student-Athlete