With so many great coaches around college basketball, it’s hard to rank each one individually.
How important is longevity? What about recent success compared to historic success? Does recruiting out of high school still matter more than the transfer portal?
All of these questions need to be asked when debating who the best coach in college basketball is at any given moment, which is why The Athletic opts to separate coaches into a tier list instead.
The first tier (out of seven) features the very best of the best. Kansas head coach Bill Self, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and St. John’s Rick Pitino are just three of the eight selected. Florida has already faced two of those names — Baylor’s Scott Drew and Virginia’s Tony Bennett.
But what about Florida’s own Todd Golden?
The powers that be at The Athletic believe Golden is in the middle of things at Tier 5, best described as a mix of “coaches on the rise” and “coaches who have now or have had Power 6 jobs on their second round.” Golden obviously fits in with the on-the-rise group, but Florida fans have been expecting a legend to walk through the doors since Billy Donovan left.
Golden simply isn’t there yet, but Florida is off to a hot start in his second year at the helm. He’s chasing the SEC’s best — Alabama‘s Nate Oats, Arkansas’ Eric Musselman, Auburn‘s Bruce Pearl, Kentucky’s John Calipari and Tennessee‘s Rick Barnes.
If Golden can get Florida to the NCAA Tournament and begin to compete with the teams mentioned above, he’ll move up the tier list quickly.
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