SAN FRANCISCO – As Todd Golden made his way to the blue ladder to cut down Chase Center’s nets Saturday, Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett snuck up and gave his former point guard a bear hug. Soon joining them was Stanford coach Kyle Smith, another of Golden’s mentors.
The trio posed for pictures and rejoiced until Bennett shooed Golden away, telling him they’d celebrate next weekend, when the Golden-coached Florida Gators appear in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
“Amazing. Just incredibly proud,” Golden said amid the on-court celebration after beating Texas Tech 84-79 and winning the NCAA Tournament’s West Regional. “The staff and players did an incredible job all year getting us to this point, and when it wasn’t looking good for us, they did a great job staying the course, staying confident, making winning plays.”
Top-seeded Florida (34-4) was down 10 points with 5 ½ minutes left before closing in triumphant fashion. Walter Clayton Jr. scored 13 of his game-high 30 points in that stretch run, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 1:47 remaining and then a go-ahead 3-pointer that secured the lead for the final minute.
“Obviously we had some big-time shots down the stretch that allowed us to run out of here with a victory,” Golden added. “To do it here in San Francisco is pretty sweet.”
Watching from the stands were his coaches 20 years ago at Saint Mary’s – when Bennett was in his fourth season, Smith was an assistant and Golden was a redshirt freshman walk-on as they appeared in the NCAA Tournament. Four years later, in 2008, Golden was a senior starter on another NCAA Tournament team that also went one-and-done.
In Saturday’s closing minutes, Bennett kept an eye on Golden, who mostly hid his angst and wasn’t kicking a chair like two nights earlier in the Gators’ win over Maryland.
“His composure was unbelievable down the stretch, won them the game, kind of,” Bennett said. “Stayed calm, had a plan. He was calm and that’s what you have to be on those. You may not pull it off but it’s your only chance. You can’t panic. He did not panic.”
Golden was only 34 when he left USF for Florida, and among those he hugged during Saturday’s celebration was the woman instrumental in his hiring, Lynda Tealer, who left Florida last year to become the NCAA’s senior vice president for championships.
Tealer, before congratulating Golden on Saturday’s floor, said: “The University of Florida had a tradition of hiring young people to lead their program. That did not matter. He had clarity of purpose and clarity of vision. There just wasn’t any question after we talked to him. It’s gratifying from a personal standpoint (to reach the Final Four), because I love Todd and love his family, and to see them have a moment like that after three years of work and effort.”
Todd’s wife, former Saint Mary’s volleyball player Megan York, is from San Antonio, which is where the Gators will play next Saturday against the South Region champion, either Auburn or Michigan State.
Both Bennett and Smith will be in San Antonio to cheer on Golden, who shouted “Let’s Go Gators!” as he accepted Saturday’s regional trophy and donned the same commemorative blue T-shirt as his players that read: “Ready 4 More” with a Gators logo beneath those words.
“It doesn’t happen very often when you get anybody you’re close to has a chance to go to the Final Four,” said Smith, who had Golden on his staffs at Columbia (2012-14) and USF (2016-19) before Golden succeeded him as the Dons’ coach for three seasons.
“Todd has a very big swagger about him. He’s just not afraid of anything, and that’s how his team plays,” Smith said. “We all felt it in the stands. Texas Tech was good and tough and they weren’t going away. They hung in there. … I just went straight fan boy.”
Golden made it a point to thank Smith and Bennett later in the formal press conference, recalling their “intense coaching” and demands for perfection when he was a Saint Mary’s guard. “To play for those guys and go to two NCAA Tournaments, that was a backbone in my coaching career now,” Golden said.
Golden won twice before at Chase Center, when only a few thousand were in the stands for USF’s wins in November 2019 and November 2021. This time, with orange and blue confetti scattered about, Golden literally climbed the ladder for Saturday’s success, snipped the net, draped it around his neck and let out a euphoric cheer. So did Bennett and Smith at the top of the 3-point arc.
Said Bennett: “I’m so happy for him. It’s an incredible story.”
