Kentucky Basketball: 20 candidates to replace John Calipari as Head Coach

Todd Golden

Moving swiftly to Golden, we’re now looking at one of the rising names in the basketball coaching universe. Unlike many of the names on today’s list, Golden hasn’t really had his breakthrough moment as a head coach but he’s certainly considered a hot name based on what he’s done in his brief head coaching career.

A native of Phoenix and former player at Saint Mary’s, he learned a lot playing under Randy Bennett and later aided current Stanford coach Kyle Smith at multiple schools before succeeding him at San Francisco. Golden took the Dons to the NCAA Tournament before accepting the Florida head coaching job in 2022. Also a former aide at Auburn, he’s now got a pair of seasons as an SEC head coach under his belt and led the Gators back to the Big Dance this season.

Again, Golden is very much and up and coming head coach, meaning his resume doesn’t exactly match well with other prominent coaches in this search. Five years from now maybe he’s won something significant at Florida, and it’s certainly not the same situation as when the Wildcats wanted to hire Donovan from the Gators 15 years ago. Still, he’s a name to watch for years to come and could absolutely be a winner in Lexington.