Mississippi State Basketball: 7 candidates to replace Ben Howland as head coach

Todd Golden

The NCAA Tournament has only just started and yet we’ve already had quite the active coaching carousel, especially in the SEC. Mississippi State may be the latest SEC job to open, but you can bet they’ve had their eyes on a number of candidates these last few weeks. This first candidate checks a number of boxes and his team just saw their season end late Thursday night.

Golden is an analytics wizard who played under Randy Bennett at Saint Mary’s. He’s been on staff at Auburn under Bruce Pearl, giving him SEC experience, and he served under fellow stats-whiz Kyle Smith at Columbia and San Francisco. Golden has been the Dons’ head coach since 2019 and just broke a 24-year NCAA Tournament drought with this season’s success, though their season just ended in the first round of the Big Dance.

The time might be golden for this young coach to jump to the next level. He’s familiar with the SEC and brings a different perspective to the game and building a program. If you’re not convinced already, just look at how this San Francisco team has played for him these last few seasons. He could do wonders at a program like Mississippi State, especially with more resources and a bigger spotlight.