Three years into his tenure as associate head coach at Florida, Carlin Hartman added “national champion” to his long list of accomplishments in more than 25 years of coaching at the collegiate level.
The Gators claimed their third national championship in program history and first in 18 years, posting a 36-4 record in the 2024-25 season. Florida also earned its fifth SEC Tournament title and sixth Final Four appearance, both the team’s first since 2014.
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 in that run were vs. teams in the top 12, and UF finished the season with a program-record 12 top-25 wins.
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. The resilient Gators rallied from nine down in the Final Four to defeat top-seeded Auburn, from nine back with 3:00 to play in the Elite Eight vs. Texas Tech and from six down with nine minutes remaining in the second round vs. UConn.
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. UF’s 13-0 start to the season was the team’s second-best start in program history, as the Gators navigated its nonconference slate undefeated (17-0, 2005-06).
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. UF also doubled its all-time wins vs. the #1 team, 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.
The Gators’ +15.2 scoring margin for the season led the SEC and was the third-highest in program history, while UF led the nation and set program records in points (3,391), field goals (1,182) and rebounds (1,673), also setting the UF record in 3-point field goals (390). The Gators’ 84.8 points per game were also the second-highest ever at Florida, only behind the 2023-24 mark of 85.6.
The Florida frontcourt group of Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu, Micah Handlogten and Sam Alexis helped Florida tally a +8.4 rebounding margin, just the second time since 1970 that Florida has been +7.0 or better in that category (+8.5 in 2006-07). Condon also grabbed 103 offensive rebounds this season, the #3 single-season total in Florida history. Three of UF’s top five offensive rebounding single-season totals have now come by frontcourt players coached by Hartman. Florida’s 38.5% offensive rebound rate also ranked fifth in the nation and second in the SEC.
In 2024-25, the Gators had their first ever first-team All-American in Walter Clayton Jr., who added Final Four and NCAA West Region Most Outstanding Player and SEC Tournament MVP honors. Will Richard – the first commit to Todd Golden, Hartman and the new coaching staff in 2022 – earned Final Four and SEC Tournament All-Tournament Team honors, leading the Gators with 18 points and eight rebounds in the national championship game.
Clayton added first-team All-SEC recognition, while Condon garnered third-team honors. The senior trio of Clayton, Alijah Martin and Richard were the highest-scoring trio in Florida history during the season, and Clayton posted a Florida-record 713 points.
Even before the national championship, Hartman was part of helping Florida establish an upward trajectory. UF posted 24 wins in 2023-24, 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 and had their highest-scoring team in pro
gram 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.
The Gators’ success grew directly out of the coaching 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 along with Micah Handlogten, who was one of the nation’s top offensive rebounders. Unranked freshmen Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh provided valuable frontcourt minutes, with Condon earning SEC All-Freshman recognition.
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. Handlogten (108) and Samuel (102) put up the #2 and #3 offensive rebounding totals in school history, respectively, and became the first Florida teammates to post 100 offensive rebounds in a season.
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 Hartman’s first season at Florida, the Gators notched a win vs. #2 Tennessee, matching the highest-ranked win both in regular season win and at home win in Florida history. The Gators also topped #20 Missouri and defeated 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.
Under Hartman’s tutelage, Colin Castleton earned first-team All-SEC and All-Defensive Team honors and was named USA Today’s SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Castleton 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).
Prior to UF, Hartman helped UNLV to an 18-win season in 2021-22, including double-digit conference victories. The Rebels boasted a pair of All-Mountain West performers this season as Bryce Hamilton earned first-team honors and Royce Hamm Jr. received honorable mention recognition, while Donovan Williams was named MWC Sixth Man of the Year. In 2022, he was invited to the 2022 coaches’ consortium at the Final Four for a second time (also 2019). Hartman was also named to the Advancement of Blacks in Sports (ABIS) Men’s Basketball Coaches 2022 Watch List in March.
Silver Waves Media has twice named Hartman one of the top 50 impactful high-major assistant coaches in the country, including in 2022 after he joined the Florida coaching staff.
Prior to UNLV, Hartman worked five seasons at Oklahoma under Lon Kruger before coaching at UNLV in the 2021-22 season. The Buffalo, N.Y., native was associate head coach at Columbia during Golden’s two seasons on staff there.
At Oklahoma, the Sooners made NCAA Tournament appearances in each of Hartman’s last four seasons in Norman. As a recruiter, Hartman played a crucial role in bringing in the best recruiting class of the Kruger era at OU. The 2019 class was ranked the highest in the Big 12 and No. 13 in the nation by Rivals. Hartman was recognized by Stadium as one of the top three assistant coaches in the Big 12, based on a poll of league coaches in 2020. During Hartman’s tenure, he also coached and mentored Trae Young, who earned consensus All-American honors and led the nation in scoring (27.4) and assists (8.7) in 2017-18. Hartman also recruited Austin Reaves, who averaged 16.3 points as a Sooner and went on to the NBA.
In 2019, Hartman was one of 31 assistant coaches throughout the country to receive an invitation to the Second Annual Collegiate Coaching Consortium, which brings together rising basketball coaches and NCAA Division I athletics directors to participate in a multi-day academy.
Hartman was the lead recruiter of a multitude of Sooner players including eventual NBA Draft selections and had a focus on the development of the team’s big men position group, including All-Big 12 honorees Kristian Doolittle, Brady Manek and Khadeem Lattin. Lattin became the Sooners’ all-time leader in blocked shots.
Hartman has also been an active participant in important social justice initiatives. He is a member of the Coaches Coalition for Progress, and he helped form the Black Assistant Coaches Alliance in the Big 12. The CCFP’s mission is to effect change in inner cities and the BACA was formed in response to the ongoing social unrest throughout the country with the goal of creating effective platforms for building better opportunities through transparency, economic and financial literacy programs and civic engagement initiatives for all student-athletes and coaches.
Hartman made his coaching debut as an assistant at Rice in 1996 following his professional basketball career. He served in three separate stints with the Owls, returning for two seasons as director of operations from 2002-04 and as associate head coach from 2014-16.
Prior to his return to Rice, Hartman worked as Columbia’s associate head coach for four seasons. In 2013-14, he helped lead the program to its most wins (21) since 1968. For two seasons in his tenure at Columbia from 2012-14, Hartman and Golden worked alongside each other on the Lions’ staff. Hartman also served as the Ivy League representative on the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Assistant Coaches Committee from 2012-14.
Before his appointment at Columbia, Hartman was an assistant coach for one season each at James Madison and Centenary in 2009-10 and 2008-09, respectively.
From 2005-08, Hartman worked as assistant coach and was the lead recruiter at Richmond for three seasons where he recruited three of the top scorers in program history, including future NBA Draft pick Justin Harper.
Hartman mentored three future NBA talents at Rice from 2002-04 as director of operations, including the Owls’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder Mike Harris, as well as All-America honoree and 2007 NBA Draft selection Morris Almond and All-WAC honoree Mike Wilks. The Owls won 41 games over those two seasons, including a 23-13 mark in league play.
Additionally, Hartman spent one season each at McNeese State and Louisiana as an assistant coach.
Hartman earned a degree in communications with a concentration in broadcast journalism from Tulane in 1994. He was inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020 along with his teammates from the 1992 Green Wave team, which was the first in Tulane history to reach the NCAA Tournament and to win an NCAA Tournament game. He is also set to be inducted into the Tulane Hall of Fame individually in 2023.
He wrapped up his Tulane career ranked 10th in scoring (1,180 points), third on the program’s career field goal percentage list (52.8 percent) and seventh in career steals (146). In 2011, Hartman was named to Tulane’s 1990s All-Decade Team as part of the Green Wave’s celebration of 100 years of basketball. Following college, the Rapid City Thrillers selected Hartman in the third round of the 1994 CBA Draft.
Hartman and his wife Christine have four children: Sydney, Kailyn, Tess and Joseph.
Carlin Hartman Timeline
| 2022-present |
Florida |
Associate Head Coach |
| 2021-22 |
UNLV |
Assistant Coach |
| 2016-21 |
Oklahoma |
Assistant Coach |
| 2014-16 |
Rice |
Associate Head Coach |
| 2010-14 |
Columbia |
Associate Head Coach |
| 2019-10 |
James Madison |
Assistant Coach |
| 2008-09 |
Centenary |
Assistant Coach |
| 2005-08 |
Richmond |
Assistant Coach |
| 2004-05 |
Louisiana |
Assistant Coach |
| 2002-04 |
Rice |
Director of Basketball Operations |
| 1997-98 |
McNeese State |
Assistant Coach |
| 1996-97 |
Rice |
Assistant Coach |
| 1990-94 |
Tulane |
Student-Athlete |
