Florida Gators Officially Announce Todd Golden as New Head Basketball Coach

The Florida Gators officially announce the hire of Todd Golden as the new head basketball coach.

The Golden era of Florida basketball is here.

The Florida Gators have officially announced the hire of San Francisco's Todd Golden as the new head basketball coach on a deal worth $3 million annually over six years.

Just one day removed from a first-round exit to Murray State – a game where the Dons tested Matt McMahon's Racers into overtime – Golden is slated to move across the country to assume the vacancy in Gainesville.

Welcome to The Golden Era!

Todd Golden is officially the 20th Florida Men’s Basketball Head Coach 🐊#GoGators | #GatorsHoop pic.twitter.com/PX9u1NV3bl

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 18, 2022

"I'm energized by the opportunity to lead an elite program at Florida, and I'm ready to get started," Golden said. "Florida has a championship-level athletic department, and I embrace the standard of excellence at Florida and passion of Gator Nation. We couldn't be more excited about what the future holds in Gainesville."

According to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, athletic director Scott Stricklin didn't feel the pressure to pluck a coach from another power program. Instead, he wanted to look for "a young and smart" mind to command the unit going forward.

Getting Golden, 36, accomplishes that mission.

Meeting with Golden on Wednesday, Stricklin and the rest of the University Athletic Association at Florida began to move quickly with the process of hiring the up-and-comer.

Golden returns to the SEC, where he served as the director of basketball operations and eventually an assistant coach under Bruce Pearl at Auburn from 2014-2016. Serving as a spearhead for the Tigers' recruiting efforts, Golden presented a well-rounded skillset that made him a highly regarded piece to one day assume a head coaching job.

After two years as an assistant at USF, Golden was promoted to head coach, where he quickly turned things around to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Leading the Dons to their first tournament appearance since 1998, Golden produced his best season yet at 24-10 to improve his all-time coaching record to 57-36.

Spending just three years as a head coach at the collegiate level, he has quickly risen up the ranks as a highly regarded young candidate for major-level jobs around the country. With his name circulating around major jobs like Maryland, Florida pursued the candidate quickly.

But, what does he bring to the Florida program?

In his new-era style of coaching, Golden has the ability to provide youthful exuberance to a program that has grown stale.

Reliant on the use of analytics to maximize rotation, employing players on the court despite foul trouble and other previously taboo practices becoming more common in the basketball world, Golden is thought to be the definition of a modern, innovative mind at the helm.

That will be a change of pace from the traditional outlook on the game former head coach Mike White brought to the hardwood.

The pace that Golden has employed during his time at San Francisco is hoped to provide a much-needed spark into a Florida program that has suffered through monotonous offensive possessions in recent years.

Instilling the virtues of getting out in front of defenses in transition, putting shots up early in the shot clock and shooting a heavy dose of triples – connecting on 35% of their 934 total attempts – Golden's squad ranked in the top 40 for points per game in the NCAA this season at 76.3.

The high-octane attack will occasionally result in empty possessions, but the potential for explosiveness will provide a spark into a program that has grown stagnant.

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