“We’ve gotten a lot of credit for our offense because we’ve been so explosive all year and been one of, if not, the top two offenses in America all year, but we’ve been a top ten defense all year also. We’ve been able to stand up against really good offensive teams and find a way to get stops. That’s what made this team special all year is that we can win different ways, and we showed that again tonight.”
Todd Golden, Florida Men’s Basketball Head Coach, March 8, 2025
Out with the old, in with the new. Meet your new national champion, head coach of the Florida Gators, and absolute master of the transfer portal, Todd Golden.
Like it or not, college sports have changed dramatically within the last few years. Where others have failed, Todd Golden seems to have figured things out like he’s Neo in the Matrix plucking bullets out in mid-air.
The term NIL, which stands for name, image and likeness, combined with the advent of the transfer portal, where college athletes are now free to move from program to program without sitting out an entire season, means that administrations and coaching staffs must become much more vigilant in their pursuit of the college athlete, and more importantly, the right college athlete.
I’m not here to change your mind about athletes getting paid (side note: they always have been) or whether that’s good or bad for college athletics but if you’re wholeheartedly, adamantly and staunchly against it, chances are a) you’re old and b) you’re white.
We’ve seen legendary coaches, the best in their respective sports, throw their hands up in frustration and opt for retirement simply because they no longer want to deal with the way college kids are now recruited, or more appropriately re-recruited. Look no further than Nick Saban, the new spokesperson for AFLAC, who left Alabama all but cursing the transfer portal as he stormed out the door, boxes of trophies in hand, never to diagram a play in Tuscaloosa again. He’s not the only legend scratching his head at the new. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, one of the greatest to ever do it, appears baffled by college sports’ current state of disarray.
The fact remains that if college coaches want to maintain their jobs and any semblance of competitiveness, they are going to have to go about things differently.
After only three years in Gainesville, Todd Golden took his flair for sabermetrics and a struggling Florida Basketball program and won himself a national championship. He did so by cleverly using the transfer portal to his advantage and by using analytics to not only win basketball games but also put together a championship-caliber roster.
Golden had a vision of a team that could win a title and constructed that team as he saw fit. Every player that stood on that stage in a Gator uniform hoisting a championship trophy proved his point, becoming a perfectly crafted, hard-working and diverse basketball team. Someone’s got to win a title. Why not Golden and his staff, who worked tirelessly to recruit this title team, not just from high schools around the nation but other colleges as well.
That’s what it takes now; Golden is only 39 years old.
Maybe modern college athletics suits a new breed of coach, among whom Golden is clearly a forerunner. Dan Hurley, 52, took the UConn job in 2018 and won back-to-back titles in his fifth and sixth seasons. Golden won the title in only his third, having never won a tournament game, becoming only the third coach in the last sixty years to do so. But even Hurley’s Huskies hit a speedbump when they lost players to the NBA. The team they were left with fell to Florida in the second round.
Instead of complaining about the portal, which now allows the players to hold much more leverage than ever before, Golden accepted this landscape and used it to Florida’s advantage. After all, he never knew it to be any different.
It’s not easy to win with underclassmen, so why not compile experienced players? Florida’s entire starting backcourt was loaded with seniors. It was also loaded with transfers. Alijah Martin played previously at Florida Atlantic. Will Richard played his freshman year at Belmont. Tournament MOP Walter Clayton Jr left Iona after his sophomore season to play for Golden. Instead of scouring high school gyms for talent, Golden recognized the recruitment pool as a larger one from which to pluck talent. Shrewd coaches can, or rather must now, look for players looking to leave their current situation. The pot is half full. At least it is for Golden.
That’s not to suggest loyalty is fleeting, as some might have you believe. Although college athletes now have the liberty to transfer freely, why would anyone want to leave a winning program? The end game is and has always been the same, only the way to get there has changed.
If you’re a true fan of college basketball, you must concede how good NIL is for the sport. Once thought one and done, Cooper Flagg, the consensus number one pick in next year’s draft, has already hinted that he plans on staying at Duke another season. That’s because Duke can pay him more than the crappy NBA team that would inevitably draft him.
Again, I’m not here to change your mind about college kids getting paid but it’s naive to think they never were. It’s also hypocritical to lock students into a program when their coaches aren’t held to the same standard.
College coaches like Izzo can either ride off into the sunset as Saban did, scratching their heads and wondering how things changed so quickly, or they can embrace the newness of it all and continue to work as hard as they always have, just differently. They’ll just have to channel their energies elsewhere and complain less if they want to remain relevant.
Kudos to Golden and his Florida Gators for being among the first to do so, working the system to their advantage. To paraphrase Nina Simone, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life and Florida’s feelin’ good.
Great post SC. I learned a lot. And a huge congrats on yr winning GATORS. Very deserving. & now this reader understands , even more so, why!
Well said Liar South. Let’s hope Golden will make similar additions this year to re-load for the Gators.