Todd Golden made history on Monday by becoming the youngest head coach to lead a team to a national championship since the legendary Jim Valvano did it at NC State in 1983. His Florida Gators defeated the Houston Cougars 65-63 in a dramatic fashion.
Houston had led for most of the game, but the Gators had the lead by the time the buzzer went off. Florida erased a 12-point deficit in the second half, the third-largest in championship history, with Star guards Will Richard and Walter Clayton Jr. dropping 18 and 11 points, respectively.
Todd Golden Gets Emotional Postgame
In the locker room after the match, Golden addressed his players and the feat they had just achieved.
“Each and every one of you guys should be incredibly proud of what you just accomplished,” Golden said. “Every time, it doesn’t matter how. We can outscore people, we can get to a hundo. Tonight, we had to do it a different way. We played an incredibly tough, gritty, great program. We had to win an ugly game.”
Golden spoke to NCAA analyst Andy Katz after the game.
“Nobody can ever take this away from us, and it’s a memory we’ll have for the rest of our lives” 🙌
Coach Golden is letting it all soak in as he caught up with @TheAndyKatz in the Florida locker room#MarchMadness @GatorsMBK pic.twitter.com/LBKrOTGd8d
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 8, 2025
When asked what being a national champion feels like, Golden responded, “Nobody can ever take this away from us, and it’s a memory we’ll have for the rest of our lives”.
Florida’s Fairytale Tournament Run
The Gators were knocked out in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament, but they’ve gone all the way this year. However, the journey was full of ups and downs, as they had to come from behind to win the game four times.
Florida beat two-time defending champion UConn in the Round of 32 before defeating Maryland in their Sweet 16 matchup. In the Elite 8, Texas Tech led Florida by 10 points before the Gators mounted a comeback.
They came away with a win against Auburn in the final four, and now they are national champions.
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