Keller's Korner - Todd Golden

Todd always loved the sport of basketball. He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and led Sunnyslope High School to the 2002 Arizona 4A state championship in basketball. From there he played guard for St. Mary’s College of California from 2004 to 2008. The Gaels made the 2005 and 2008 NCAA Tournaments. Todd graduated as the Gaels' all-time leader in free-throw percentage (83.2%) before the record was broken by future NBA player Matthew Dellavedova.

From 2008 to 2010, Todd played for Maccabi Haifa in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He also competed in the 2009 Maccabiah Games playing for the USA. Todd added to me, “Bruce Pearl also coached me in 2009 in Israel in the Maccabiah Games.” Bruce is now the Head Coach of the Auburn Tigers.

After playing a few years in Israel, Todd became an Assistant Coach for Columbia University and then Auburn and finally the University of San Francisco. Todd’s big promotion happened on April 1, 2019, when USF announced Todd would be the Head Coach of the Dons. Todd stayed there until the 2021-2022 season as bigger developments came into his life.

At the age of 36 years old, Todd was named the Head Coach of the University of Florida on March 18, 2022. Now Todd was coaching in the big-time Southeastern Conference.

The Gators won 24 games during the 2023-2024 season and Todd led them into the SEC finals against his mentor Bruce Pearl and Auburn. The Gators fell to the Tigers but the campus in Gainesville got Gator fever. One of their biggest fans is freshman Eden Rose. She is a die-hard basketball fan that gets in line hours early to sit in the front row. Eden is easy to spot wearing her foam Gator hat. She added, “I love the games, but it is also very exciting to wait in line with other students who love the team too.”

Now in the 2024-2025 season, the Gators are rolling. As of February 7, 2025, they are ranked 6th in the country. I mentioned to Todd that of the 6 top ranked teams in men’s basketball, three had Jewish coaches. He is aware that they are Bruce at Auburn, Todd at Florida and Jon Scheyer at Duke.

When asked if he had any comments to three Jewish coaches who have had such similar success, he responded, “It is definitely something that I am proud of. I think it is a really unique situation and cool to see. Obviously, I know Jon (Scheyer) pretty well, but Bruce is family to me.”

As of this writing, Auburn is ranked #1 in the nation and they have a showdown with Florida on Saturday, February 8. It will be Jewish coaches Bruce Pearl vs. Todd Golden. Also, it should be noted that Steven Pearl, Bruce’s son, is an Associate Coach for the Tigers. When asked about Steve, Todd said, “Steve is one of my best friends.”

As for the showdown, Todd said, “I owe a lot to them (Bruce and Steve) in terms of my success as a coach. I am proud to be coaching Florida, and I am excited to try to beat Bruce on Saturday." Note, on February 8, the Gators did upset the #1 ranked Auburn Tigers in Auburn, 90 to 81.

Neil Keller is a Jewish historian. Visit his website: www.NeilKeller.com to learn who is Jewish.