It has been 16 months since he was thrown into the guilty-until-proven-innocent social media wash cycle, buried by the anonymously wicked and willfully reckless sewer of discontent.
Now here we are, a world removed from it all for Florida coach Todd Golden, and the only question is what’s more unthinkable: How quickly we’ve forgotten what he endured off the court from a four-month Title XI investigation that cleared him of any wrongdoing?
Or how he has since built the most dominant program in college basketball.
“We’re playing really good basketball right now,” Golden said.
That’s the secondary now to the primary buildout of 16 months, one that has no peers in the eat-what-you-kill-world of the tenuous NIL era.
The Gators are 61-10 over the past two seasons, including a 33-6 record against the best conference in college basketball. They won the national title last season with a revamped roster and elite player development — and did it by beating two No.1 seeds in the Final Four.
Then started over again this season.
They lost the best backcourt in school history, three guards critical to the championship run now playing in the NBA. Lost another guard to Kentucky’s deep NIL wallet. Lost two assistant coaches to head coaching jobs.
They’ve had to change offensive styles midseason, moving to inside-out bully ball while never wavering from Golden’s defense-first mantra. They’ve won 11 straight while beating the brakes off SEC competition, and head into next week’s NCAA Tournament as a likely No.1 seed — and the hottest team no one wants to play.
The transformation has been as remarkable as revealing. From defending himself from what he called — and an independent law firm hired by Florida later agreed — baseless allegations, to his program chasing immortality.
Only UCLA under legendary coach John Wooden has had multiple back-to-back national championships seasons. Not Duke or North Carolina, not Kansas or Kentucky or UConn.
Florida — the football school — is one postseason from joining UCLA as the only two-time, back-to-back national champions in the sport’s history. Which, of course, brings us to Golden’s biggest move of all.
Surpassing the great Billy Donovan in all of four seasons.
The coach with his name on the court at the O’Connell Center. The coach who, over 19 seasons in Gainesville, changed the way they thought about basketball and became the best coach in any sport in school history. Better than Spurrier, better than Urb.
Golden, 40, reached 100 wins at Florida in 139 games; Donovan hit the number in 154. Golden is on the verge of getting his second No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Donovan had one in his career.
Donovan worked in an era of organically-developed rosters, where longstanding recruiting relationships and longterm player development bore the fruit of championship teams.
Golden works in the ever-changing, transitional now of college sports, where’s he’s constantly recruiting his own roster while adding impact pieces through the transfer portal — and mining high schools for philosophical fits who won’t leave after one season.
Every game is sold out in the 11,000-seat arena, and students camp out days in advance for tickets. Golden connects with fans and big-money booster like few do, promoting and defending this monster of a program he has built every chance he gets.
He stomps around the court, and Gator chomps after wins. He bowed up to coaching legend John Calipari last month — Golden looks like a high school cross-country runner — after a 34-point emasculation of Arkansas, and jawed with a fan at Rupp Arena after yet another statement game of who runs the best conference in college basketball.
He’s all ball, no nonsense — which is why he doesn’t even speak to the allegations of 16 months ago. No sense in giving something that isn’t true more oxygen.
He’s not trying to please social media scavengers and headline chasers. He’s coaching ball — and doing it better than anyone right now.
“Didn’t lose in February,” Golden said. “Got to try not to lose in March.”
Golden lost 29 games in his first two seasons at Florida, an uneasy beginning that pointed to a prove-it season in Year 3. Now he’s six NCAA Tournament wins from coaching immortality, and dealing with the same things Donovan did over two decades.
The blue-bloods will come calling, maybe even as soon as this offseason. The Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina jobs could be available, so will many NBA jobs.
Who knows if he would leave? For that matter, who cares?
Nothing he could do from here out will top this remarkable 16-month run. Not even a second national title.
But since they’re staring at it, why not embrace it? Take those three SEC tournament games this week, and the six NCAA Tournament games it takes to win it all — and leave no doubt.
“An unrealistic level of self-confidence?” Golden said. “I hope so.”
There’s your social media story, scavengers. Run with that.
