What Florida coach Todd Golden said about Auburn basketball

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Florida coach Todd Golden on his ties to Auburn basketball’s Bruce Pearl

Florida basketball coach Todd Golden discusses his relationship with Auburn basketball’s Bruce Pearl on Thursday, April 3, at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO — Auburn basketball is getting another rematch to kick off Final Four play, going up against a program that handed it the second loss of its season, with a coach it knows quite well.

The Tigers will take on 1-seed Florida on Saturday (5:09 p.m. CT, CBS) at the Alamodome, with a trip to the national championship on the line.

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The Gators already have Auburn’s number, beating it 90-81 during the regular season for its first SEC loss. It was Todd Golden’s second career victory against the Tigers, defeating a team he coached for two seasons as an assistant on Bruce Pearl’s staff.

It’s a “full circle opportunity,” Golden said, “to be head coach at an incredible place like Florida, now competing against your mentor and one of your best friends, for a trip to go to the national championship game. It’s pretty special. Just grateful for the opportunity.”

Ahead of Saturday’s Final Four face-off, here’s everything Golden said about Bruce and Steven Pearl, Johni Broome and the rematch with the Tigers.

On relationship with Auburn basketball, Bruce Pearl

Golden spent three years, from 2012 to 2014, as an assistant at Columbia before joining Bruce Pearl’s Auburn staff. In that time, the Tigers were 26-40. But Golden parlayed that stint into an associate head coach role at San Francisco, eventually taking over the program in 2019.

“We’re incredibly close,” Golden said of Bruce Pearl. “Have been for a long time now, almost 15 years. It’s a little surreal, to be honest, to be able to be here at the Final Four. That in itself is a little surreal. But playing on Saturday against one of your biggest and best mentors, (it’s) not exactly something you expect when the season starts.

“I know he’s incredibly…

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Publish date : 2025-04-04 20:17:00

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