Report: Warriors to Pursue Title-Winning College Coach If Steve Kerr Leaves

With Steve Kerr not under contract for next season, the Golden State Warriors are already planning on who they'd target to replace him.

Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor reported Monday that the Warriors would pursue Florida head coach Todd Golden.

Golden guided the Florida Gators to the 2025 national championship. He's 160-77 in four seasons in Gainesville.

There's a perception that the Warriors would want a coach with NBA experience with an older roster including 38-year-old Stephen Curry, 36-year-old Draymond Green and 36-year-old Jimmy Butler.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Anthony Slater reported Monday that the Warriors could consider a college coach, but they have acknowledged "complications of delivering Curry, Green and Butler an inexperienced head coach in their final years."

All of Golden's coaching experience, dating back to 2012, has come in the college ranks.

Kerr's Decision Feels Like a Tossup

Kerr has said he'd never leave Curry, who is under contract for next season and has interest in signing an extension.

But that fact alone doesn't have every Warrior thinking he'll be back.

"I hope he's our coach next season," Green said Monday on his podcast. "You want my opinion? I think not. Just because it feels like that. It felt like that was it."

Kerr said after the Warriors' play-in game loss to the Suns on Friday that he would take a week or two to figure out what he wants to do before meeting with team governor Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr.

Other Possible Candidates

On Sunday, I wrote about three other possible candidates.

Perhaps the two most obvious candidates are assistant coaches Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse. Stotts has 13 seasons of NBA coaching experience, including guiding the Portland Trail Blazers to the conference finals in 2019, where they were swept by the Warriors. He's been with Golden State since 2024.

Stackhouse has never been a head coach in the NBA, but was the D-League Coach of the Year in 2017 and has also been with the Warriors staff since 2024.

The other candidate I mentioned was Pistons assistant Luke Walton. He took over for Kerr during the 2015-16 season while Kerr recovered from back surgery complications.

Walton thrived with that loaded Warriors team, guiding it to a 39-4 record before Kerr returned.

He's since been fired twice—once by the Lakers, and once by the Kings—but the 46-year-old could fare better with a more talented Warriors roster.

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