Todd Golden in Florida celebrates the last four places with Bennett, Smith

San Francisco – While Todd Golden was heading for the blue ladder to cut the Chase Center nets on Saturday, Saint Mary’s coach, Randy Bennett, slipped and gave his former leader a cuddly of bear. Soon, Stanford coach Kyle Smith, another Golden mentors.

The trio posed for photos and rejoices until Bennett helps Bennett Golden far, telling him that they would celebrate next weekend, when the Florida gators coated with gold appear in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in San Antonio, Texas.

“Incredible. Just incredibly proud,” said Golden in the middle of the field celebration after defeating Texas Tech 84-79 and won the Regional West of the NCAA tournament. “The staff and the players have done an incredible job all year round to bring us to this point, and when it does not seem good to us, they did an excellent job while respecting the course, by remaining confident, by making winning games.”

The Florida to head (34-4) was down 10 points with 5 ½ minutes before closing triumphant. Walter Clayton Jr. scored 13 of its 30 -point summit during this sequence, including a 3 -point pointer with 1:47 to play, then a green point which obtained the advance for the last minute.

“Obviously, we had big shots on the section which allowed us to miss here with a victory,” added Golden. “Doing it here in San Francisco is quite soft.”

20 years ago, looking at the stands was his coaches in Saint Mary – when Bennett was in his fourth season, Smith was a assistant and Golden was a first -year record in a red shirt when they appeared in the NCAA tournament. Four years later, in 2008, Golden was a senior starter in another NCAA tournament team which also went and made.

In the fence minutes on Saturday, Bennett kept an eye on Golden, who mainly hid his anxiety and did not kick a chair like two nights earlier in the victory of the Gators over Maryland.

“His composure was incredible in the section, earned them the match, in a way,” said Bennett. “Stay calm, had a plan. It was calm and that’s what you need to be on them. You can’t withdraw it but it’s your only chance. You can’t panic. It has not panicked.”

Golden was only 34 years old when he left the USF for Florida, and among those he kissed during the celebration on Saturday, there was the instrumental woman in his hiring, Lynda Teneer, who left Florida last year to become the senior vice-president of the NCAA championships.

Teleror, before congratulating Golden on the floor on Saturday, “said:” The University of Florida had a tradition of hiring young people to direct their program. It didn’t matter. He had a clarity of goal and clarity of vision. There is simply no question after I told him.

Todd’s wife, the former Volleyball player in Saint Mary, Megan York, is from San Antonio, where Gators will play next Saturday against the champion of the southern region, Auburn or Michigan State.

Bennett and Smith will both be in San Antonio to encourage Golden, who shouted “Let’s Go Gators!” As he accepted the regional trophy on Saturday and put on the same commemorative blue t-shirt as his players who read: “Ready 4 More” with a Gators logo under these words.

“This does not happen very often when you get someone you are close to a chance to go to the Final Four,” said Smith, who had Golden in his Columbia staff (2012-14) and USF (2016-19) before Golden succeeds him as a donation coach for three seasons.

“Todd has a very big fanfaron about him. He simply is not afraid of anything, and that’s how his team plays,” said Smith. “We all felt it in the stands. Texas Tech was good and hard and they didn’t go. They are suspended there.

Golden made a duty to thank Smith and Bennett later in the official press conference, recalling their “intense coaching” and their requests for perfection while he was the guard of Saint Mary. “To play for these guys and go to two NCAA tournaments, it was a backbone of my coach career now,” said Golden.