Report: Todd Golden Emerges as Warriors’ Steve Kerr Replacement
Florida men’s basketball has been at the center of offseason questions regarding whether the team’s starters will return for one last hurrah since its early NCAA tournament exit as reigning national champions.
Alex Condon will return for his senior season, while Rueben Chinyelu declared for the draft, while maintaining college eligibility. Tommy Haugh is still weighing whether to stay in Gainesville or go pro.
Now, attention has shifted to the man leading the team from the sideline — coach Todd Golden — and whether he could leap to the NBA in familiar territory.
“If Steve Kerr leaves, the Warriors will pursue Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden, according to my league sources,” Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor said on his podcast. “Golden is the coach that they’re targeting, in part because the Lacob family has a relationship with him. And so I think for the Warriors, Golden would be near the top of their list, if not at the top.”
Finishing his 12th season, coach Steve Kerr’s return to the team for next season is in question. The Warriors missed the playoffs after Friday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns, and Kerr huddled on the sideline with Steph Curry and Draymond Green after subbing out late in the fourth quarter in a prelude to the end of a former dynasty.
“I hope he’s our coach next year. You want my opinion? I think not, just because it just feels like that — it felt like that was it,” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show.”
Golden spent three seasons as the coach of the San Francisco Dons. He went 24-10 in his final season and led the program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998. Only a matter of time, a top program like the Florida Gators swooped in for the hire.
Golden’s resume speaks for itself, and for fans who did not know much about him when he was hired, Gators fans and the SEC know now. Four seasons in, he’s a national championship coach, 2025-26 SEC Coach of the Year and the fastest coach to reach 100 wins, doing so in 139 games. Golden brings an analytical approach to the game and is not afraid to show emotion on the bench to fans, opposing coaches, officials and players.
Since the offseason began, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin has had to fend off interest in Golden from other programs. Golden’s name was floated for the University of North Carolina job before the school ultimately went with Mike Malone.
Now the NBA is calling, similar to former Florida coach Billy Donovan’s path, which led to the Oklahoma City Thunder after winning back-to-back national titles. In Golden’s case, it may not be a matter of if he leaves, but when — and a job where he began coaching could provide a full-circle moment.
“The thing is, would Golden even want to leave the Gators?” O’Connor said. “He has a great situation there. They’re one year removed from a national title. No guarantee he’d want to go to an uncertain situation with the Golden State Warriors.”
Despite recently signing a contract extension with the Gators, Golden has an $11 million buyout for other college programs, but only a $2 million buyout for NBA teams through March 2028.
However, for a Warriors team that is already making Kerr the highest-paid coach in the league at $17.5 million, paying the buyout would not be an issue.
The biggest question, one only Golden can answer, is whether he is ready to leave college and take on the challenges of the NBA — leading a team in the same city where he got his head coaching start seven years ago.
Category: Feature Sports News, Gators Men's Basketball
