GAINESVILLE, FLA- After hiring former San Fransisco Head Coach Todd Golden to become the next Men’s Basketball Head Coach of the Florida Gators, Golden has certainly not wasted time building up his coaching staff. On Tuesday, it was announced by the University of Florida that the Gators have hired former Richmond assistant Head Coach Kevin Hovde to act as one of Golden’s assistant coaches. Golden and Hovde have previous coaching ties together, as the two worked together for seven seasons at San Francisco and Columbia University. Hovde would serve two seasons as the associate head coach at San Francisco before heading to Richmond in May of 2021.
“Kevin is extremely sharp and has a great understanding of what we want to do, not only from a basketball standpoint but in the big picture of how we want this program to run,” Golden said. “He has one of the best offensive minds we have in the college game. We’ve obviously had the opportunity to work alongside each other for several years at multiple stops, and I’m really glad we have the chance to add another chapter to our collaboration here at Florida.”
After leaving Golden and the Dons for the Spiders, Hovde immediately found success in the construction of their program. Hovde helped lead Richmond (24-13, 10-8 A-10) to an Atlantic Ten Tournament Championship and to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after upsetting No. 5 Iowa, 67-63. The Spiders’ regular season was highlighted by wins vs. St. Bonaventure (23-9, 12-5 A-10) and Northern Iowa (20-12, 14-4 MVC), while the A-10 Tournament run included victories over Davidson (27-7, 15-3 A-10), Dayton (24-11, 14-4 A-10), and VCU (22-10, 14-4 A-10).
Hovde even oversaw the development of Richmond’s Tyler Burton and Jacob Gilyard, who were both major contributors to the Spiders’ great 2021-2022 season. Burton averaged a team-high 16.1 PPG and 7.7 RPG, and earned second-team all Atlantic ten conference honors. Gilyard averaged 13.7 PPG and 6.0 RPG, and was named to the third team all-Atlantic ten conference honors.
Kevin Hovde’s Previous Coaching Experience
Before joining the Spiders’ staff as an assistant coach in May of 2021, Hovde was Golden’s assistant coach at the University of San Fransisco for two seasons (2019-2021). Hovde played a subtle but important role on Golden’s teams, as the Dons went 57-36, along with a 23-22 record in conference play over his tenure in San Fransisco. Prior to joining Golden and San Francisco, Hovde was on the staff at Columbia University for five seasons, two of which were alongside Golden. Hovde joined the program as the director of basketball operations in 2011, and was quickly promoted to assistant coach the following season. In Hovde’s final season at Columbia (2015-2016), the Lions finished 25-10, setting a school record for wins, and won the postseason CollegeInsider.com Tournament.