New Gators HC Todd Golden Discusses System, Scheme He'll Bring to Florida

Gators head coach Todd Golden provided an overview of his ideal style of play and what he looks to bring to Florida on both ends of the floor.

Photo: Todd Golden; Credit: Alex Shepherd

The Golden Era officially commenced in Gainesville on Wednesday afternoon as Todd Golden was formally introduced as the new head coach of the Florida Gators basketball program.

As he looks to resurge the Gators program to a championship level, Golden shared his play-style philosophies, breaking down the blueprint for the offense and defense that Gator Nation should expect to see in the upcoming seasons.

The foundation for success will be built on defense, rebounding and ball security. 

"If we're able to do that, it will raise our floor and give us a great chance to be really successful and eliminate any unnecessary volatility we might have," Golden said.

Having success at San Francisco with a team that followed a similar blueprint, Golden took the Don's to their first tournament appearance since 1998 this season. Despite losing to Murray State in the first round, USF proved to be a difficult out for the more tournament-experienced Racers.

Namely, the offensive firepower they brought to the table allowed them to post 87 points in their lone postseason game. Many of the core aspects of the game that allowed the Dons to tick at such a high level will be implemented at Florida.

"Offensively, we're going to play fast, but not in a hurry," he said, given the emphasis he puts on ball security. "We're going to try to push in transition, score early in the clock, hunt rim twos, catch and shoot threes.

"If we don't score in transition, we're going to slow it down and make you guard us in the half-court and make you guard continuous player and ball movement, unique ball screen actions, and different things that I think are incredibly difficult to scout."

Last season, that difficulty by the opposition was evident as the Dons' averaged 76.3 points per game. They ranked in the top 35 in total scoring in Division-I, as a result. 

Golden hopes to realize a similar high-octane attack with a Florida team that has struggled to find sustainable success on the offensive end in recent memory. He realizes he has work to do for the team to grow acclimated to his style of offense.

"I think [an area] that we're going to really strive to be better at next year is shooting the ball," he said when asked about where the Gators could improve going forward. "The team, I think was around 30.5% from the year on three, and the way that I like to play that's simply not going to be good enough. We're going to have to go out and shoot the ball better to achieve the goals we want to achieve."

Defensively, Golden will look to stop opposing teams from doing what his offenses do.

"Really, we're going to try to keep teams from doing those things," he said. "We're going to try to keep them out of transition, make them run offense in the half-court, make them take tough twos overhand and have an incredibly gritty style to us defensively where teams won't want to face us."

Similar to the offense's necessity to improve shooting the ball from beyond the arc, Golden harped on his desire to improve the unit's defensive rebounding next year and beyond.

"That was an area that was surprising to me when evaluating the team and the roster, that they didn't have a lot of success in, because I think the pieces are there, and I think the talent is there in terms of being able to get on the glass."

While defensive rebounding is essential for any defense, limiting second-chance points and pushing the ball up the floor in transition is imperative to the success in the win and loss columns.

"I think if we can lift those two areas up a couple of pegs and stay consistent and get better in other areas, we should be back in the tournament next year."

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