After topping other Jewish NCAA coaches, Gators’ Golden shoots for title repeat

Someday in the not-too-distant future, Todd Golden hopes to return to Israel. And this time, he’ll bring his whole family with him.

For now, the first Jewish coach to win an NCAA college basketball title in 37 years has more pressing matters than a family vacation on his plate. With the college basketball season kicking off, defending the crown for the University of Florida, with a largely fresh cast of characters, will be a full-time job.

It’s a job he never could have imagined having back when he was playing for Maccabi Haifa in 2008 as a recent immigrant to Israel. He recalls that time fondly and has kept in contact with some of his teammates from that squad over the years.

“There are probably 5-10 guys that were players or managers on the team I still stay in touch with regularly,” the 39-year-old Golden told The Times of Israel in a recent wide-ranging interview. “It’s pretty cool because when I was there, I was a 23-year-old kid just out of college playing on their team, and now I’m coaching at Florida and we won a national championship. So you know there’s a lot of pride from their perspective to see me and what we’ve been able to do.”

Life’s been hectic since April, when his Gators cut down the nets in San Antonio and Golden emerged as the winner from an unprecedentedly Jewish Final Four. The championship round included Auburn coach Bruce Pearl — Golden’s close friend and mentor — and Duke’s Jon Scheyer. The fourth team, Houston, featured Israel-born Emanuel Sharp, son of Maccabi Tel Aviv legend Derrick Sharp.

Florida knocked off Pearl’s Auburn team with a second-half rally to earn a spot in the championship, and then staged another second-half comeback to nip Houston 65-63 for the title.

“It’s been fantastic,” said Golden of the ensuing six months. “Our program really had the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments that we had last season.”

Among the highlights: going to the White House to be feted by US President Donald Trump and the New York Athletic Club’s Winged Foot award.

“It’s been awesome, especially here locally at the University of Florida from Hillel and all the people just how proud they are of our program,” he recalled.

Red, Brown and Golden

For the kid from Phoenix who went to the local Jewish Community Center to play hoops every day after school and on Sundays, it’s kind of humbling being mentioned in the same breath as legendary Jewish basketball coaches Red Auerbach, Red Holzman and Larry Brown, who was the last Jewish coach to win the NCAA championship, doing it with Kansas in 1988.

“For me, it started being in the Final Four with Bruce and owning 75% of the Final Four market share with Jewish coaches. I’m very prideful to say I’m the first one since Larry to win one,” Golden said.

Golden said he grew up in a “pretty standard Jewish family.”

“I was raised in a Conservative household,” said Golden. “I was bar mitzvahed and my younger sister was bat mitzvahed.”

When it came time to pick a college, he chose St. Mary’s in Moraga, California, since he liked the campus and it provided him the best opportunity to play. His four years at the school led him to his future wife, Megan, who converted to Judaism. But his career with the Gaels from 2004 to 2008 was largely unnoteworthy, making a career in the NBA unlikely.

“I wanted to just be a baller and it ended up working out alright,” said Golden, who averaged 5.5 points per game during his St. Mary’s career.

When he left St. Mary’s, agent Marc Simon recruited him by pitching the opportunity to play in Israel. With his Jewish background, he could easily obtain Israeli citizenship, making him especially attractive to local teams courting foreign talent but obligated to carry a minimum number of Israeli players on their rosters.

Golden began his career with Maccabi Haifa. While in Israel, he also played for the gold medal-winning USA team at the 2009 Maccabiah Games, coached by none other than Bruce Pearl.

“He has such a magnetic personality and operates with such positivity,” said Golden. “He’s really enjoyable to be around, and I was always drawn to him.”

It was the start of a relationship that has continued to flourish over the years. In 2014, when Pearl was hired to helm the lackluster Auburn Tigers, he brought Golden along as his director of basketball operations.

“When he got the job at Auburn and offered me a position on his staff it was really a no-brainer for me to go down and work with him and learn from him,” Golden said.

“The reality is he’s treated me like a son,” added Golden.

Over 11 seasons, Pearl turned Auburn into a basketball powerhouse, leading it to its first-ever Final Four appearances in 2019 and 2025. He announced his retirement in the offseason, handing the reins to his actual son Steven Pearl, who was Golden’s teammate on the 2009 Maccabiah team.

Speaking during the Final Four in April, Bruce Pearl credited his former charge with helping get the ball rolling at the Alabama school.

“First of all, Todd had a great mind,” said Pearl. “I chose Todd Golden to be on my first staff to help me get things started at Auburn… Obviously it says everything about his character, his work ethic, his intellect. Todd is his own man.”

“Specifically I’m really proud of Todd and Jon for being young Jewish coaches,” he added. “Wearing their faith on their sleeves, they both played professionally in Israel, and they’re both young mensches.”

From Golden Gate to Golden Gator

Golden landed at Florida in 2022 after three years as head coach at the University of San Francisco, where he went 57-36.

The team struggled his first year and in his second year it failed to advance out of the first round of March Madness. It entered last season ranked No. 21 by the AP, but quickly rose to the top of the poll behind stellar play and big wins, including against No. 1-ranked Auburn.

While leading the team, Golden was also dealing with investigations stemming from multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. In January, the school dismissed the charges, saying it had found no evidence and calling the claim against Golden “meritless.”

“That was a very unique situation,” said Golden, who denied the allegations. “I was happy to let the process play out because I was confident how it would end up.”

“But obviously I’m glad that’s behind us.”

That’s because he knows everybody will be gunning for the Gators. The defending national champs enter the season ranked No. 3 in the AP poll.

“I think internally I’m fighting that battle of trying to not make it so much about repeating,” he conceded, having consulted with Billy Donovan, who won back-to-back championships for Florida in 2006-7. “But there is a big element of that, with how many guys we have back.”

“I’m asking the guys that returned who understood what it took to win a championship to guide the other guys. There can be a lot of challenges because there are more expectations this year. So we’re going to have that to deal with that,” he added. “But that pressure is a privilege for us and I’m excited to deal with it.”

The pressure begins November 3 when Florida takes on Arizona in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be close to a homecoming for the Phoenix native. Though he also has eyes on another former home: Israel.

Looking for a repeat

Golden admits he didn’t make the most of his time in Israel when he moved there to jumpstart his career. “I was so young and naive and homesick,” said Golden, noting that he only spoke “broken Hebrew” then.

“I didn’t fully take advantage of living over there for two years as much as I should’ve,” he said.  “But we still had a great time. We’d go out in Tel Aviv all the time. I went to Jerusalem a couple times, to the Dead Sea, to The [Western] Wall and big-picture wise was able to experience a lot of great things.”

He noted that he has not been back since 2010, recalling games being moved due to security concerns over Gazan rockets being launched at Ashkelon.

Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, he said he has been “super mindful” of what is going on in Israel and the region.

“That’s why I try to integrate myself with the Jewish community here at UF,” he said.

While many college campuses were rocked by anti-Israel protests, with many Jewish students complaining of feeling unsafe or subjected to antisemitism, Golden praised his school’s response.

“Regarding October 7 I don’t think there’s a better college campus in America to be on in those moments,” he said. “Our former president made a very strong stand right after October 7th and explained ‘We’re never going to take away free speech from our students but that does not allow them speak or act in certain ways with Jewish students and allow them to feel unsafe.’”

“October 7 was an awakening in a sense to a lot of the people in my life,” Golden added. “We always knew about the strife in the Middle East. But that was such a catastrophic and horrific act of terrorism it I think it opened everybody’s eyes.”

So while his attention is on getting back to the NCAA championship, he’s also looking forward to returning to Israel sometime soon.

“It’s 100% something that I plan. My wife’s never been there nor have my kids,” he said of Jacob, 9, and Madison, 7. “My plan is to get over there for a couple weeks because I miss my friends from over there.

“I want to show my family where I lived,” he added. “I just think it’ll be an awesome experience.”