Todd Golden Chasing History as Gators Host Mississippi State

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Todd Golden has practically done it all in his near-four years leading the Florida Gators men's basketball program. On Saturday, he became the third coach in SEC history to win an SEC regular-season title, SEC Tournament title and national championship within their fourth season.

On Tuesday against Mississippi State, Golden has the chance to add to his impressive list of accolades. A win over the Bulldogs, while clinching the outright SEC regular-season title, also gives Golden his 100th win as Florida's head coach. It would also make him the fastest coach to do so in program history.

"It would mean a lot in the sense of understanding our program is on the right track," he said of the accolade. "Obviously, there's multiple Hall of Fame head coaches that have been here. And to be able to do that in a short period of time affirms what we believe that we're heading the right way and that we just got to keep going and not be satisfied.”

Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden chomps after leading the Florida Gators to its third championship in program history. | Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

As it stands, Golden is 99-39 as Florida's head coach, giving him the sixth-most wins by a head coach in program history behind Billy Donovan's 467 (1996-2015), Norm Sloan's 232 (1960-66, 1980-89), Mike White's 142 (2015-22), Sam J. McAllister's 119 (1937-42, 1946-51) and Lon Kruger's 104 (1990-96).

He also has the highest winning percentage in school history among coaches who have been with the program for multiple seasons with a 71.7-win percentage, 0.2 percent higher than Donovan's. Only CJ McCoy, the program's first head coach and who only coached six games (5-1) has a higher percentage.

While Golden has the chance to make history, he will argue that the team's goals of making another deep run in the NCAA Tournament are far more important. After starting the season at 5-4, the Gators currently sit at 23-6 and as the AP No. 5 team in the country. Having already clinched the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, Florida is now fighting for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Florida is currently battling No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 UConn for a No. 1 seed. Despite closes losses to the Blue Devins, Wildcats and Huskies in non-conference play, Golden believes the Gators have a strong chance to clinch a one-seed in the tournament.

"We'll see how our resumes stack up against each other, but all we can continue to do is kind of focus on ourselves and keep winning," he said. "If we do that, then we're going to apply pressure on the committee to make a tough decision.

"UConn is a great team. They're very worthy. But I think our conference is a lot better. And what we've been able to do in the SEC, if we're able to finish the right way, I think we'll have some other feathers in our cap that we could sell to the committee."

Should Florida clinch a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament, it would mark the first time in program history that the Gators are a one-seed in back-to-back tournaments, giving Golden another accolade to his coaching resume.

For now, Florida is focused on Tuesday's home finale against Mississippi State, which tips off at 8 p.m. with television coverage on SEC Network. A win would clinch the outright SEC regular-season title for the Gators.