Florida Men's Basketball Head Coach Todd Golden joins, Top Sporting Events, and Listener Mailbag

Summary

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The Triple Option – Episode Summary

Date: March 16, 2026
Host(s): Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, Rob Stone
Featured Guest: Todd Golden (Florida Men's Basketball Head Coach)

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Episode Overview

The episode centers around three core topics:

• The pressures and narratives around high-profile college athletes and teams, especially with March Madness and shifting college football landscapes.
• An in-depth interview with Todd Golden, the head coach of defending NCAA champion Florida men's basketball.
• The hosts’ picks for the greatest playoffs and sporting events, sparking engaging debates and personal anecdotes.

The show blends light humor, deep sports analysis, and behind-the-scenes insight, particularly benefiting from Meyer’s and Ingram’s first-hand experiences as players and coaches. Listener mailbag questions and lively rankings round out the episode.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Pressure and Spotlight on College Athletes

Segment: Listener Mailbag, 00:49–06:49

• Arch Manning and the Burden of Family Legacy

  • Urban Meyer discusses Manning’s high expectations, drawing a parallel to Tim Tebow’s immense scrutiny at Florida.
    • "He was the golden child in his senior year. It was unbelievable, unmerciful, the amount of press – and at times, negative press." (Urban Meyer, 02:28)
  • The group agrees that Manning is on track, supported well by both family and staff:
    • "They’ve handled him well. Sark down there, I think he’s going to have a hell of a year." (Meyer, 03:13)
  • Rob Stone notes the professionalism Manning shows when stepping in to play, but wishes for more openness from the young QB.

• College Football Rivalries and Program Decisions

  • Notre Dame–USC rivalry’s hiatus draws strong reactions. Meyer laments the loss:
    • "I feel your pain. ... Notre Dame should play USC." (Meyer, 06:16)
  • Intensity comparisons: Ohio State–Michigan and Florida–Georgia called even more intense than cross-country USC–Notre Dame, due to proximity and stakes.

2. Golf Course Favorites and the Culture Around Sport

Segment: 06:49–08:05

• Urban lists Augusta National as his top pick, tying it back to family traditions and personal nostalgia.
  • "If someone said, you only got seven days left. I'm spending five with my family and two at Augusta." (Meyer, 07:07)
• Other notable mentions: Wade Hampton, Southern Highlands, Cypress/Pebble/Monterey (grouped), Pinehurst, and Oakmont.

3. NCAA Legal Authority & NIL/Transfer Chaos

Segment: 08:05–09:08

• Meyer explains the messy state-by-state landscape undermining the NCAA’s authority, with court challenges and inconsistent laws.
  • "That’s the mess right now that’s got to get fixed." (Meyer, 08:52)

4. Coaching & Fatherhood

Segment: 09:08–09:38

• On whether it’s harder to win a championship or be a dad:
  • "Are you kidding me? That one doesn’t go away. ... [Being a father] is one of the great gifts God gives you." (Meyer, 09:29)

5. The Rose Bowl as National Championship?

Segment: 09:38–10:28

• Meyer’s nostalgic support:
  • "I’m in. That’ll never happen ... but I just think that I’m such a history guy.” (Meyer, 09:47)
  • Rob and Meyer joke about the infamous parking nightmare at the Rose Bowl.

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6. Interview: Todd Golden, Florida Men’s Basketball Head Coach

Segment: 13:15–27:38

Why Florida?

• Golden took the job for the brand, opportunity, and potential, echoing Urban’s own leap to Florida years ago.
  • “I had a similar feeling as you did when you were crushing it at Utah when Florida called. … To have the opportunity to lead this program … was truly a no brainer for me.” (Golden, 13:58)

Billy Donovan’s Mentoring & Transition

• Donovan (former UF coach) immediately supportive.
  • “He said, ‘Todd, I want to be as involved or as little involved as you want me. I just want you to know I got your back.’” (Golden, 15:06)
• Golden expresses gratitude for not being Donovan’s direct successor, but rather after a transitional period.

Early-Season Struggles After Winning the National Title

• The team started 5–4, facing locker-room doubts but no attitude issues.
  • “We had no infighting, we had no complaining. ... But we had to get our confidence level where it needed to be.” (Golden, 17:50)
• Urban credits himself (half-jokingly) for delivering a pep-talk that turned the season around (16:16).

Handling Pressure, Chasing a Repeat

• Golden leans on Donovan’s advice: It’s not about “defending” a title but creating a new identity for a new team:
  • “You’re not defending crap, man. You got a brand new team.” (Donovan/Golden quoting, 19:17)
• Pressure weighed early, but the squad rallied after December, finding confidence and playing with freedom.

College Basketball’s Place in Sports Culture

• Rob bemoans the “March-only” attention; Golden says the product is better than ever, with NIL keeping talent in college longer.
  • “The talent is as good as it’s ever been. ... Games matter more in the regular season in college.” (Golden, 23:30)
• Golden acknowledges football’s dominance, especially at SEC schools.

Resource & NIL Competition

• Balancing football and basketball resource needs is tough but necessary at a school competing nationally in both sports.
  • “I don’t think we can take away anything from football to put our program forward … but we need to be at the highest level possible outside of that football spend.” (Golden, 25:24)
• Florida is “competitive right now” in NIL support but recognizes SEC rivals outspend them in spots.

The Tournament Mindset

• Message to players: “As great of an experience as this is, it can be gone tomorrow.” (Golden, 26:45)

• Golden doesn’t fill out brackets; he delegates that to his son, who loyally chose the Gators last year.

  • “I don’t, but I know my son will.” (Golden, 27:30)

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7. Three and Out: Top Sporting Playoff Formats

Segment: 29:25–33:48

Urban Meyer’s Rankings

1. Sunday at Augusta National/The Masters
   • “The greatest sporting event that exists is Sunday, the Augusta National.” (Meyer, 29:52)
2. College Football Playoff (Current Format)
3. March Madness (NCAA Basketball Tournament)

Rob Stone’s Rankings

1. FIFA World Cup
   • “World Cup, number one. Listen, there’s nothing but winners on this list.” (Stone, 31:12)
2. NHL Playoffs
   • Praises intensity, Game 7s, and the post-series handshakes: “There’s just something that ends it on a proper note, that I love.” (Stone, 31:34)
3. March Madness
   • The triumph of underdogs and instant-name-makers: “I think anything is better when you get an underdog, like UMBC, FDU, St. Peter’s, a Princeton, a Florida Gulf Coast...” (Stone, 32:07)

Reflections

• Both hosts emphasize how sporting events bind families and communities, sharing cherished memories.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He was the golden child in his senior year. It was unbelievable, unmerciful, the amount of press.” – Urban Meyer on Tim Tebow (02:28)
• “We need football to be good... But I do believe basketball needs to be as high as it can possibly be without taking anything away from football.” – Todd Golden (24:28)
• “You’re not defending crap, man. You got a brand new team.” – Billy Donovan’s advice to Todd Golden (19:17)
• “Winning around here used to be fun. This effing sucks.” – Joakim Noah to Meyer, 2007 Florida locker room (paraphrased by Meyer, 20:35)
• “As great of an experience as this is, it can be gone tomorrow.” – Todd Golden on March Madness (26:45)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Listener Mailbag begin: 00:49
• Arch Manning/Tebow pressure: 02:19–03:46
• Notre Dame–USC rivalry: 04:37–06:49
• Golf courses: 06:49–08:05
• NCAA authority, NIL/transfer: 08:05–09:08
• Parenthood vs. coaching: 09:08–09:38
• Rose Bowl national title debate: 09:38–10:28
• Todd Golden interview start: 13:15
  • Early struggles and turnaround: 16:16–18:40
  • Messaging on repeat and pressure: 19:10–22:02
  • College basketball viewership: 22:02–24:02
  • NIL/budgeting: 24:02–26:27
  • Tournament mentality: 26:27–27:38
• Playoff format rankings – Three and Out: 29:25–33:48

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Tone and Style

The podcast strikes a balance between sports-nerd deep dives and casual, humorous banter. Urban Meyer brings candid coach-and-program culture perspectives, Rob Stone brings a reporter’s wide-angle lens and playful tone, while Todd Golden provides practical coaching philosophy and transparent program leadership insights.

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For listeners and sports fans, this episode offers rich behind-the-scenes glimpses, honest breakdowns of leadership and pressure in college sports, and thoughtful, entertaining debates on the essence of great sporting events.

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Transcript

[A]

Do you fill out any brackets before March Madness?

[B]

I don't, but I know my son will. I can guarantee you that. Unfortunately, he had the Gators going all the way last year, so that was good for his bracket.

[A]

The triple option is presented by Wendy's. Get yourself a $4 Biggie Bite, $6 Biggie Bag or an $8 Biggie Bundle. Now at Wendy's. We are back with another edition of the triple option. The hall of Famer, the national championship winning head coach Urban Meyer, Rob Stone, our good friend Mark Ingram. Getting a little family time in right now. We miss you, Deuce Deuce. Can't wait to have you back. Coming up, we talk college hoops with University of Florida head coach. The defending national champs. Todd golden will join us. We give our top three players playoff formats. Coach, because we're talking March Madness. As always, thanks for joining us. Please Rate Subscribe Send us questions where you can be found across social media. 3x option show new episodes come your way on YouTube or wherever it is you find your podcast. Time now for any given Saturday. 163 days. That's right, 163 days until the new season kicks off. This week we're going to answer some of your questions and discuss your comments. If there is something you'd like to ask us for a future episode, make sure to drop it in the comment section. We're going to do another one of these when Deuce Deuce joins the show. So Coach, here we go. Q and A time. I always love when we get to say the handles for these people. Wes True Blood 8178 I've never seen anyone get the benefit of the doubt more than Arch Manning. He hasn't played nearly well enough to again be the favorite to win the Heisman. I feel for the kid because folks are putting a lot of pressure on him. Maybe this will be the year to win it all. Yeah, Arch, because of that last name, because of the hype, because of his arm, because of his skill set in high school has brought a lot of attention to him. You feel like he's better set up for success this upcoming season in Austin compared to what he's been the last few years there.

[C]

I do, but I actually coached a guy that had more pressure on than Archman. His name was Tim Tebow and how can you know? He won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore, as a freshman was a a backup but played a bunch in a national title Sophomore one Heisman junior year won the national championship and he was the golden child in his senior year. It was unbelievable, unmerciful. The amount of press and at times negative press. If he didn't have a great game, he'll never make it in the NFL, etc. Etc. Etc. So I've seen it. You got to really manage as a coach and you know, tough day in the city for Arch Manning. That's your last name is Manning. You're at Texas and you have to play well. I, I actually thought he played pretty well down the stretch. I'm, I'm a fan of his and I, I said that to you last year. Mark Rob, when we're sitting there getting ready to broadcast the Ohio State Texas game and people are saying, well, every GM and that potentially is a first pick. And I was like, whoa, first pick? Where? In the NFL draft? Because I went back and watched every snap. Year before he was, he was good. He's going to be fine. He's right on schedule. He's going to have a great, you watch, he'll have a great year this year. Will he have a Arch Manning or Peyton Manning type year? I don't know that but he's, they've handled him well. Sark down there, I think he's going to have a hell of a year do.

[A]

But that's going to be a Heisman fan.

[C]

That's the beauty of the college. What do you want to criticize? Fans are being all over and anxious about our. No, no, this is great. It comes with a business.

[A]

This is the beauty of college football. We're excited to see him. I want to cheer the young man on. Whether you like Texas or not, it's hard to dislike our team.

[C]

Let's hold that thought for a second. So I remember when like people was all over Ohio State when they lost to the Wolverines and everyone said, you know, take a break, fans. I was like, no, don't take a break. You know, there's a reason why these programs in college football has never been more popular. Keep it up. That's the beauty of the sport.

[A]

I, I, I think Arch and Sark have handled this with such grace, right? Being a backup and, and when he's asked to do spot duty, he comes in and he does it when he's asked for a spot start, he took care of it when he was handed the starting reins. He handled it with just this professionalism, with this maturity. The one thing, and I've said it before, I'd like to hear more from him. Like, like open up the doors. Let, let.

[C]

That might be him too. That might just and if I was the coach, I would not force him to do anything. That's.

[A]

No, no, I'm not saying force. I'm just saying if you would like it, here it is. Here it is for you. Because by the way, we, we know what his, his uncles are pretty good spokesman. All right. JPD9KC says, as a Notre Dame fan, I am super disappointed in not playing usc. It is a disgrace. We all miss that rivalry, right? That's a no brainer. Those two programs should have found a way to figure it out. Both of them will say it's not our fault because right in the end though, college football loses, Notre Dame fans lose, USC fans lose because that one has been pulled away from us. Where does that rivalry rank best big picture for you?

[C]

I've coached in so many great ones and I've coached in that one five or six times and I think it was six times. And it's an incredible rivalry. It's not as intense as the Ohio State Wolverine rivalry. It's not as intense as the Florida Georgia because those are right there in your backyard. This is a cross country rivalry, but it's a legit one. And, and I'm heartbroken. I, I feel your pain. Here's what I'm hearing though, because schedule strength should matter, but it doesn't. Notre Dame is, there's teams that won't play Notre Dame anymore. So who got out of that one? I'm not sure who did I. Once again, that's, that's up to Notre Dame and USC to, you know, release whatever they want to release. But if I'm usc, why am I playing that game other than it's a great rivalry. I used to ask that question when I was the head coach of Florida. Why am I playing a top five Florida State every year? Explain that to me. Athletic, you know, explain that. Jeremy Foley, the ad, and of course I loved it. But at times you're like, wait a minute, we're playing Georgia, lsu, Alabama, Tennessee and all this just for when they're playing, you know, a one double A school. Let's play Florida State, you know, and that's keeping us maybe out of a national championship game. So I feel you fans and let your voice be heard. Notre Dame should play usc.

[A]

Agreed. TV networks agree, Fans agree. College football agrees. The head coaches, the schedule makers, maybe not so much.

[C]

All right.

[A]

Richard Fryer, 6594 says would love to hear Coach Meyers top 10 golf courses in America. All right, so I'll tell you, I'll make it easy for you, Coach, Let's. Let's narrow it down. Give me your top three to five golf courses in America.

[C]

Well, one, not even close, is Augusta National. I think everybody knew that. I would always tell people if someone said, you only got seven days left. I'm spending five with my family and two at Augusta because that's how much I love that place. I grew up watching it with my father. So Augusta. I got Wade Hampton up in Cashiers, North Carolina. It's a mountain course that's spectacular. I got Southern Highland in Las Vegas as one of my favorites. I got national in Long island, and I got Cypress and Pebble and Monterey. They all count as one to me because they're right there called Carmel. Okay, I. I'm going to give you 20. Can I keep going here? What's that?

[A]

What was a tough one to keep off?

[C]

Inverness.

[A]

Pinehurst.

[C]

Pinehurst. Piner beat me up. Pine Valley and Piner beat the. Beat the hell out of me. So I don't. I like to score a little bit.

[A]

I like to.

[C]

Oakmont beat the living hell out of me, too. So there's so many great courses. That's one of my favorite things to do, obviously.

[A]

All right. Cal J8J says, does the NCAA really have any real legal authority over how long a player can play or how many times he can transfer? Is this antitrust stuff? Not that the rules of law matters much anymore. In this.

[C]

Yeah, I. I've become pretty well versed in this. I am not an expert, so I gotta. I'm not given too much information here, but do they have the power to enforce it? And I'm worried about that. And that's the whole purpose of antitrust exemption. If they get antitrust exemption, then yes, they can afford. This is the rules, and we're going to enforce it. And right now you're seeing that there's a lot of state laws that are so different from state to state that they can find a friendly judge and get it overruled. So that's the mess right now that's got to get fixed.

[A]

Too many lawyers, too much suing. Kind of annoying, isn't it? Here's a great name. Dad. Perfect.

[C]

Dad Perfect. That's you, right? Yeah.

[A]

That's humble dad Perfect Ingram. I did not write this question, my friend. Might be Deuce. Deuce. Is there more pressure to be a dad or to win a national championship? Ouch.

[C]

Yeah, you got to really dig deep on that one. Not really being the dad. Are you kidding me? That one doesn't go away and one of the great gifts that God gives you to be a father. So that's the one.

[A]

Eric 7H. This is a good question. I like this one. Make the Rose bowl the national championship. Agree or disagree?

[C]

I'm in. That'll never happen because there's. You gotta spread the wealth. But I'm a coach. My final game at Ohio State in a Rose bowl. And ironically, we've only been there one time. All the bowl games we coached in there was just the one time. But I just think that I'm such a history guy and it's so good for our sport. But that'll never happen. But I love it.

[A]

The backdrop, spectacular, the sun setting, the west coast.

[C]

Parking's awful. I hear. I had so many people bitch about that.

[A]

Did you've never had to park at the Rose bowl, have you? You're always in a bus with police sirens. You've got cops. Yeah, if you're, if you're regular.

[C]

People tell me they had to walk an hour rough to get to the. I mean a lot of.

[A]

Oh, yeah, it's brutal getting in, getting out and, and you have to bail early. If you, if you have any type of life, yeah, it can be tough. But boy, once you're in there, it's fantastic. And on the eyeballs on tv. Chef kiss. Man, that was the fresh take of the week, presented by Wendy's. Get yourself a $4 biggie bite, $6 biggie bag or an $8 biggie bundle now at Wendy's. Coming up next, coach, we're going to transition to the hardwood. Little March madness talk with Florida men's basketball head coach. The head coach of the defending national champion Florida Gators, Todd golden joins us next on the triple option presented by Wendy's.

[C]

Light it,

[A]

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[D]

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[C]

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[A]

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[E]

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[A]

Welcome back to the Triple option. Rob Stone, Urban Meyer. Time to talk March Madness with the head coach of the defending men's national championship team from the University of Florida. We take the show down to Gainesville, Florida and bring in SEC coach of the year Todd Golden. Urban is beaming right now because we get to talk a little more. Gators over here.

[B]

It's, it's great to be here with you guys. Always a pleasure and coach. It's great to see you as always, my friend.

[C]

Yeah, great to see you. So I looked on the map and did some travel. You can't even get from San Francisco to Gainesville. You have a great, your first head coaching job. You win. And I'm sure I never asked you this, but I'm sure you had plenty of opportunities. Why Florida? Why Gainesville?

[B]

Well, you know, it happened fast. And after our third year at San Francisco, we were able to make the NCAA tournament, which had not happened in about 25 years. And you know, I had some calls from other, other schools in the league that would have been great opportunities. But I assume I had a similar feeling as you did when you were crushing it at Utah when Florida called. It was a place that, you know, I felt like we could do some pretty special things when I was in college was when you were winning national championships. So to see Taurean and his teammates, Joachim and Al, winning back to backs in the mid 2000s, I always had a great, you know, just feeling about Florida. I thought the brand was amazing. And so to have the opportunity to lead this program when Scott Strickland offered it to me was truly a no brainer for me.

[C]

So did you contact my neighbor Billy Donovan and you guys? I was trying to think. I can imagine, because Billy and I were so close and I watched the way you work. I can imagine that conversation. I hope you did this. Did you give him a call?

[B]

I talked to him right after. You know, I didn't, I didn't even need his blessing, to be honest. It was too good of an opportunity to, to ever think twice about. And as soon as I was fortunate enough to get the job, you know, I talked to Billy Donovan the next day and he was absolutely amazing. And the thing that I most respect about the conversation we had was he said, todd, like I care a lot about Florida. It was really great for me and my family for a number of years. And I want to be as involved or as little involved as you want me. I just want you to know that I have your or that I got your back and will help you kind of grow in that role. And he introduced me to Taurian, who, who's on an assistant on our staff that's done a great job. And, you know, I'm glad I was the guy after the guy after Billy and not the guy right after him. And, you know, he's been a great, this role model and someone that I've been able to bounce ideas off of.

[C]

You know, when I was at Utah, we wanted all kinds of things come across the desk, some really good offers. And Billy Donovan recruited me. So he called me up and his wife and, and said, okay, here's where your kids are going to go to school. They knew we're Catholic, here's where you're going to live. So by the time we got there, the Donovan family recruited the Meyer family. So it's so good that as a gator to see you and then see you, what you're doing right now. And by the way, I told Rob went to Visit you on January 6th and you guys are playing okay, playing pretty good, but you played some hard teams.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

And you have been kicking ass and taking names since. So I'm going to, I'm going to take a little piece of that credit, if you don't mind.

[B]

Hey, I think it was, it was your talk in the locker room after we beat Georgia at home that, that really got our guys moving. And to your point, like, I thought we had a really good team early on in the year. You know, we just played some really great opponents on some tough Neutral floors and came up a little short. And I do believe the maturity and the, the physical, mental toughness of our guys have shown up over those last couple months because we've stayed together. And, you know, especially now in this era of what have you done for me lately? I can go to any school I want whenever I want. For a group to stay together after being 5 and 4 and to not point fingers, to not blame each other, the staff and, and to stay focused. And now, you know, we're 20 and 2 or 21 and 2 in our last, you know, 23 games, you know, been awesome in SEC play, and this team has really come together and brought the best out of each other.

[C]

So before I turn this off to Rob, go back to. This is really critical. You're 5 and 4. You just won the national title. I remember even around here, because they know I'm a Gator and they know I know you, and they're kind of, I don't want to say they're bitching, but they're like, what's going on up in Florida? Was that ever even a locker room issue or did you just. Just guys just keep grinding? Was there ever any attitude issue with the players when they lost those games?

[B]

You know what we did, we didn't have any attitude issues. I do think early on the year we had a little bit of some confidence issues, and I think that stemmed from us not knowing each other very well yet. You know, obviously we brought in Boogie from Arkansas and Xavier from Princeton, and then our front court went from being kind of role playing butt kickers to now being the main guys in the rotation. And it took a little bit for us to find our footing that way, but we had a really spirited, you know, kind of post game at Duke, which was our loss that took or took us to five and three before we played UConn. We, we had a chance to win that game. We're up to. With 30 seconds to go in Cameron, and we, we fall a little short. We go in the locker room and I told our guys, I said, listen, man, we're right there. But like, we, we need to get a lot better also, like, we're, we're not close to a finished product. We need certain guys to pick up their play. We need certain guys to be better leaders. And the great, we have great guys. We, we had no infighting, we had no complaining, but we had to get our confidence level where it needed to be. And I didn't want our guys to be arrogant, but we had to be more Confident than what we were playing with. And I do believe we've kind of found that form right now.

[A]

Coach. Early at UConn, after they won two straight national titles, they had a bracelet dynasty. And there was all this energy and talk about being a three time repeat champion. And he said, I didn't handle that right. That wasn't the messaging that I should have put on this, this new cast of characters. So how did you message to your team that of course you want to be back to back national champs and you're beginning that journey right now. How does one handle that or how did you go about handling it?

[B]

Yeah, it was something that was a little bit of a struggle to figure out. And I do, you know, leaning on Coach Donovan, I thought he gave me great advice in saying, listen, man, like a lot of people want to talk about defending this. And he's like, you're not defending crap, man. You got a brand new team. This is, you know, going to be their journey. Yeah, your program might be defending a national championship, but these individual players all have different roles and different responsibilities than they had last year. This group is trying to win a championship just like last year's group was. And I thought that made a lot of sense. And, and we've tried to create a new identity for this group. You know, also kind of leaning on the. The experience that a lot of these guys had being a part of this team last year. But we need, we. Walter Clayton isn't walking through that door this year. Elijah Martin's not walking through that door. Will Richard is not walking through that door. We lost three great players that, that led us to a national championship. So now, you know, getting these guys to take on more of that leadership, to take more on. On more of that responsibility, I think has been really healthy. And they're trying to blaze their own trail.

[C]

Let's go back, Rob, real quick. So 2006, coach Donovan and the crew wins it. And then 07. I remember because we were always in each other's locker room and he invited me and they beat South Carolina and Joe Kim Noah, this is. The whole group came back, if you remember that the whole group could have left and they came back and, you know, they win. And Coach Sonoma kind of chews their ass about something, I can't remember what. And Joe Kim Noah looks at me and like throws his jersey against the wall and he says, you know, winning around here used to be fun. This effing sucks, you know, and because the pressure was starting to mount on, you know, the repeat but that was maybe a different. Like you just said you lost your three or three of your top players last year. Have you felt, like, the pressure, like they're starting us? Do they feel squeezed at all? It doesn't look like it when they

[B]

play well, I think early in the year, we were dealing with that a lot. You know, we were preseason top five. You know, we had all the expectations in the world, and, you know, we've started five and four, and our guys, I think we're struggling. And not just our guys, our staff, myself, you know, struggling, battling through that expectation. And, you know, even though we were playing well, we were falling a little short, and we felt like we were letting some people down. And it became a lot and. And getting to 5 and 4 was kind of that inflection point where it's like, man, what are we worrying about anymore? You know, we. We gotta get a lot better and get a lot more right, to even worry about trying to repeat or worry about being preseason top five. And, you know, so we were able to battle through that in December and kind of reset ourselves and, you know, some of those expectations that we're having to deal with and that pressure, I do feel like, has been alleviated. And now guys like Xavian and Boogie are playing with great freedom and playing with a lot of confidence. So, fortunately, I think we kind of got through that earlier in the year, and that's not something that we're having to deal with at this exact moment.

[A]

Let's throw a big picture college basketball question out there. I've loved this sport for decades, and I get sick when people just start paying attention this month in March, they're like, oh, it's March Madness. Time for me to care about college basketball. This has been one of the best seasons, top to bottom, in college basketball. So many great talents and programs and storylines. How does college basketball start having people care about the calendar in December and November rather than in March?

[B]

I think it's tricky, you know, and it's part of our blessing as part of our curse as well. And, you know, football, you know, it's just such a dominant sport in college as it should be, you know, right now. And the way it is, and I think especially down here in the south, when you have great football programs, you know, everywhere you look like that football is going to lead in. In the winter, and that's okay. I think we've done a good job of playing some really tough games early on the year, trying to drive viewership, whether it was us opening up on, you Know, on TNT against Arizona or us playing Duke in the ACC SEC challenge, playing Yukon on espn. Like we're. We're trying to create, you know, better inventory for. For basketball in those months. And, and I think the continued elevation of our product will certainly help us college basketball over these past couple years. You can say what you want about, you know, and I o. You can say what you want about some of the eligibility issues we're having, but the product is as good as it's ever been. The talent is as good as it's ever been. We are keeping guys in college who five, 10 years ago would have gone to the NBA because of what we're able to, you know, do rev share wise. So, you know, I think if we can continue, you know, elevating our product, I think, you know, the NBA is fantastic, but games matter more in the regular season in college. They just certainly do. And I think teams in college are playing every night like it's a national championship where in the NBA, you know, on a Tuesday night in a. In a different city might not bring that same level of competition. So I think we're trending. And yeah, I think that's a work in progress. Just trying to figure out how to continue to move more eyeballs towards basketball in December, you know.

[C]

You know, coach, you said something that is. You can. You only have about one of five or six. I count that really want to win it all in both sports. How do you. How does Scott Strickland, the athletic director at Florida, handle. My understanding is you have a rev shoe number. Rev share number and you got to split it between your sports. Are you in those. Obviously you're in those meetings. How in the world does that happen when you have two sports that want to go compete at the highest level?

[B]

It's. It's incredibly tricky. And I think it's like, for me, like, I. I wasn't born yesterday, man. I know that we at the University of Florida want and you know, we need football to be good. And I think getting coach Sumrall here was awesome. I think he's a great fit and I think he will. He's already brought great energy on campus. I think people really appreciate the excitement he has about the opportunity. But like, we. We need football. We need to make sure football gets good guys. We need to make sure that, you know, for those six or seven Saturdays in the swamp in the fall that, you know, we're getting 90,000 in there and that we have the best product we can. But I do believe, you know, basketball needs to be as high as it can possibly be without taking anything away from football. And, and that's just the reality with us being the two revenue sports. You know, we're able to drive a lot of eyeballs. We're allowed to drive a lot of people to campus, knock on wood. We've been selling out almost every home game we have.

[A]

So it's.

[B]

You know, I don't think we can take away anything from football to put our program forward, but I do think we need to be at the highest level possible outside of that football spend to make sure we maintain being competitive.

[C]

Maybe you can. Maybe you can share this or not, but is. Is Florida basketball competitive? Nil in your sec? Are you?

[G]

Right there?

[B]

We're competitive right now. I think, you know, there's. There's people that are definitely ahead of us.

[A]

We.

[B]

Which we know about. And, you know, for me, I. I think we need to just continue to make sure we're at a position where we can recruit the type of guys, and we have some incredibly special guys in our program right now, but we've been able to. To thread that needle of guys that we think are talented enough to win, but also are really passionate about being here at Florida. And, And I think we have some really good guys in a program that we might be able to retain that we need to keep. But, you know, in regards to whether it's the rev share spend or the nil support and even the. The donors that are. That are supporting us at a high level, like, we're. We're in a good spot right now.

[A]

What are some things that change when March Madness begins? From a player perspective, from a coach perspective, messaging perspective, the main thing is

[B]

just how quickly it can end. You know, and my first couple trips to, you know, the NCAA tournament, I, you know, my first, I guess two games that I coached, we lost. You know, and so you. You get there on Tuesday and you're doing interviews, Wednesday's practice, Thursday you play, and then you lose. And it's like, it can go like that, you know, And I think that's the. The message that I'm sharing with my team right now. Like, we're playing very well. I think we're playing as well as anybody in America, and we're putting ourselves in a position to compete, to make a deep run. But for me, it, you know, we're trying to create that understanding. Like, as great of an experience as this is, it can be gone tomorrow. And we want to make this last as much as possible. So, you know, just trying to have that kind of one day at a time mentality, also realizing it can be gone as quickly as it's here, making sure we don't take any of it for granted.

[A]

Do you fill out any brackets before March Madness?

[B]

I don't, but I know my son will. I can guarantee you that. And fortunately he had the Gators going all the way last year so that that was good for his bracket.

[A]

Coach golden, thanks for joining us. Best of luck this March and hopefully April for you and your defending national champs, the Gators. Coming up next, we discuss which sport has the best playoff format in three and out here on the Triple option presented by Wendy's.

[C]

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[A]

York welcome back to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's Rob Stone, Herb admirer here with you. We just talked to Todd golden, the head coach at Florida. Florida Head of March Madness got us thinking. What are the best playoffs, the best tournaments in all of sports? So we're going to rank them here in three and out. So coach this can be collegiate, professional, amateur, any sport that you want, the top three playoffs or tournaments. In all of sports, you get first tips.

[C]

Oh, what a tough one. But it really is not tough for me because I think the greatest sporting event that exists is Sunday. The Augusta national, the Masters tournament with Jim Nance used to be Vern Luckist. So that's. That by far is number one. I've watched it with my son growing up, and my father and I watched every Sunday, Augusta, as far back as I remember. So that's number one. Number two, the new format of the College Football Playoff is incredible. I wish that was around when I coached. I know they keep making things a little bit better, but it's never the parody and the way they do it. I love College Football Playoff. And then finally, I'm a big March Madness guy. I love college basketball. I don't watch enough of it. I know we have Todd Golden. I need to watch more because I used to watch it all the time, but I watched the Final Four and the enthusiasm, the student bodies, the universities involved. It's the greatest event. One of the greatest events.

[A]

College basketball, a lot like college football, where both are getting better because of nil, because of guys sticking around longer, the quality of play is. Is better. It's. College sports is going through a great run right now. So my top three. You know what my number one is?

[C]

World Cup.

[A]

Of course. World cup less than 100 days away.

[C]

I got to come your way. I got to get into that.

[A]

It's coming, Coach. We're going to get you to a game.

[C]

How about usa? We just let that go. The men and women win the Gold Dog. Gone it. I wish I could redo it.

[A]

It's the same. It's the same vibe, same feeling, but it's stretched over a longer.

[C]

So World cup number one.

[A]

World cup number one. Listen, there's nothing but winners on this list, right? For me not to say the college football playoffs, and I love the college football playoffs. Hurts. But there's something unique, something different about the NHL playoffs, right? The intensity, the. Anytime you can throw a Game seven into anything, it's. It's just bonkers. It's great sports entertainment, wonderful television, wonderful story lines. And what I love about hockey is that. That nod to the history, right? The respect at the end of the game with the handshakes that they go through, no matter how many teeth they've knocked out and what the scrums have been like, there's. There's just something that ends it on a proper note. That I love and then March Madness, right? And, and it's more the madness than the march, right. I think anything is better when you can get an underdog like a UMBC, an FDU, a St. Peter's a Princeton, a Florida Gulf coast, right? Making these dramatic runs, creating headlines, you know, making stars out of people you have never heard of, right? Like nobody knew what the UMBC mascot was until they finally won a game. Right? There's something about that. But I don't think you can go wrong with any sporting tournament or event. Like coach, I bet your club tournament is pretty awesome to play.

[C]

Oh, they are. Anytime you got competition. But the reason I go with Augusta national, it's also also a part of what you grew up in. You know, my father was not a golfer, I was not a golfer. But we had such respect for Jack Nicklaus in that era of golf that we sat there and watched every Sunday as far back as I remember. And guess what? My son did as far back as he was could say the word hello. We're sitting there with my son watching. And by the way, Saturday, Augusta national this year, the master that bring to my son. We'll be there watching it.

[A]

Oh, let's go. Oh, enjoy that one. Yeah. Sports again has that ability to bring people together and make life defining moments. That does it for the triple option. Follow. Subscribe rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever it is you get your podcast again, we're on social media 3x optionshow. Keep those questions, keep those comments coming. Thanks as always to our sponsor Wendy's. We'll see you next time on the triple option.

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