GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On Tuesday, the Florida men’s basketball coach sat behind his office desk and had little interest in talking about rumors tying him to the NBA Golden State Warriors.
“It’s a compliment,” Todd Golden said. “Very flattering.”
Similar responses came from Steve Spurrier and Billy Donovan when their names were floated for pro jobs back in the day.
Golden, though, was quick to eschew any Golden State talk to speak about what was a truly golden day for the Gators and his program.
A month ago in Tampa, the notion of a silver lining somehow emerging from top-seeded Florida’s devastating second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Iowa would have been unfathomable. To a man, the Gators were devastated, especially standout junior forward Thomas Haugh, who was virtually inconsolable in the post-game postmortem at the realization his collegiate career had ended in a most cruel fashion.
As it turned out, the cruelty was the impetus in a remarkable chain of events that culminated Tuesday when Haugh announced he would forgo a projected lottery spot in the 2026 NBA Draft to return to UF to play his senior season in 2026-27.
“I think [the loss] lit a fire underneath me,” Haugh, the second-team All-American and team’s leading scorer, told ESPN of the last-second, 73-72 dagger defeat against the Hawkeyes. “I [didn’t] want my last memory of Florida basketball to be that.”
Now, it won’t be. Instead, Haugh will make many more memories in a UF uniform.
“Pretty good day for the Gators,” Golden beamed.
The 6-foot-9, 215-pound Haugh started the day as the No. 13 player in the 2026 draft, according to ESPN, making him the highest-ranked player to remove his name from NBA pool of prospects. Does anyone think Haugh would be coming back if Golden was leaving?
In choosing to put his pro career on hold, Haugh again will line up in the front court alongside his best friend, classmate and fellow All-America forward Alex Condon, who last week announced he would return for his senior season despite draft stock showing a late-first or early second-round grade.
Living out a dream. @ThomasHaugh4 pic.twitter.com/rr7Vwx65jE
— Florida Victorious (@Fl_Victorious) April 21, 2026
In the current landscape of collegiate athletics – even in the lucrative Name, Image & Likeness world – the idea that two All Americans with slam-dunk pro futures (and members of the same team, no less) both would wait on the riches for another season at this level is nothing short of gob-smacking. It speaks to the substantive character of the individual players and their love for the program, to the generosity of UAA donors, but maybe above all to the program’s culture created by Golden.
“Most guys in my position in the draft, it would be a no-brainer to go to the NBA,” said Haugh, who averaged a team-best 17.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in ’25-26. “It’s not just the NIL. It’s a chance to play with my boys. To play for Coach Golden. To go to the school I love to play for. It was definitely a tougher decision than last year, but it was best for my career and future.”
On Monday, center Rueben Chinyelu, the 2026 Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year and Southeastern Conference leading rebounder, announced he would go through the NBA evaluation process with the option for returning for his senior season, also. Don’t be surprised if Chinyelu comes back, too. If that were to happen, it would be three players from the same team, all with national accolades and credentials, as well as a NCAA championship on their resume, doing something very rare. And not one member of that trio has so much as dipped a toe in the transfer portal waters during their time at UF when their earning power surely would have commanded bidding wars from teams across the country.
Question: How many scholarship players in the SEC were honored this past season on their respective “Senior Days” having played their entire career at the same school?
Answer: One.
Take a bow, Mississippi State guard Shawn Jones.
Prediction: Florida’s 2027 “Senior Day” with these two (at minimum) just might blow the roof off Exactech Arena.
“I think Tommy and Condo – and Rueben, regardless of what his final decision will be – are great examples of what college athletics, more specifically, what college basketball can still be,” Golden said. “When you find guys that are grateful and appreciative of the opportunity and have the type of experience that they’ve enjoyed to the point they don’t want to leave … well, that’s something that’s hard to cultivate. But because of the support they get here, our ability to maintain staff, the ability to build relationships with these guys, I think the University of Florida men’s basketball program has become a destination program; a place guys understand they’re going to get better and not be in any rush to get out of here.”
❤️🐊 pic.twitter.com/UwPZNsQDY8
— Jonathan Safir (@JonathanSafir) March 24, 2026
Condon, the team’s No. 2 scorer (15.1 points) and rebounder (7.5 per game), informed the coaches of his decision shortly after the season ended. Haugh, in the staff’s collective mind, was gone. A little more than a week later, Golden got a surprise call from the family. They wanted to know what his return would look like. The NIL part, that is. Answers came quickly.
Twice over the last four weeks, Golden flew to California for meetings with Haugh, who in between west coast workouts vacationed in Hawaii to sort things out. Golden gave Haugh the head-clearing space his star player needed and eventually got the news in person over lunch last week along with assistants Carlin Hartman and Jonathan Safir.
Golden gladly stayed silent the last few days while Haugh’s camp was readying to go public.
Now the Gators, already with a top-five nucleus for next season (and some roster moves still to come), will wait on word from Chinyelu.
“They’re products of their environments growing up, each with great families who value loyalty and support. Those guys were who they are before they got to us,” Golden said. “We have built incredible relationships with them and they value being a part of something bigger than themselves. They see the improvements they’ve made incrementally since they got here. I also think having a little sour taste in our mouths after losing to Iowa provided a little ammunition to put this group back together for one last run.”
Email senior writer Chris Harry at [email protected]. Find his story archives here.
