No. 1 seed Florida lands a spot at coach Todd Golden's favorite Bay Area restaurant after all

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Coach Todd Golden landed top-seeded Florida a reservation at his favorite San Francisco restaurant after all.

Golden said Tuesday that Original Joe’s, a popular eatery in the Bay Area, created space for the Gators to dine this week before their Sweet 16 matchup against No. 4 seed Maryland. Florida was scheduled to fly cross-country Tuesday and practice at the University of San Francisco, the school where Golden got his first head coaching job. The Gators will dress up (maybe) and chow down (definitely) at Joe's after.

Golden had been thinking about the possibility of taking his players and staff to his hot spot once the NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed and the Gators landed the No. 1 seed in the West Regional. But the coach didn't want to get ahead of himself with first- and second-round games to be played before a potential trip to the West Coast.

So by the time Golden called Joe's, there was hardly space for 17 players, six coaches and more than a dozen more staff on relatively short notice. But Joe's ended up making it work, getting Golden's homecoming off to a rousing start.

The 39-year-old Golden played at Saint Mary’s College (2004-08) in nearby Moraga and returned to the Bay Area to coach at San Francisco (2016-22), first as an assistant and then as the head coach for three seasons.

Golden is 72-33 in three seasons in Gainesville.

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