Todd Golden’s return to the Bay Area with No. 1 Florida in the NCAA Tournament is his opportunity to express thanks

Todd Golden knows he might need to save a couple of NCAA Tournament tickets for some special people, his longtime mentors and former coaches at nearby Saint Mary’s College.

That’s just how things work sometimes in March when you’re younger and part of a coaching tree that stretches far.

While Randy Bennett and Kyle Smith were both busy checking the transfer portal on Wednesday for possible new players for their teams — with Smith just finishing his first season as Stanford’s head coach — Golden was focused on getting top-seeded Florida ready for a Sweet 16 game against Maryland.

It really felt like a reunion at Chase Center. As the Gators started their practice, Golden said a quick hello to Smith, who was sitting on the baseline talking with Golden’s father, Scott. Former NBA coach P.J. Carlesimo stopped by to chat with them too.

“This is why he is the way he is,” proud dad Scott said, talking about all the people who helped shape his son’s journey from San Francisco to Gainesville. “It’s been beyond surreal, the year they’ve had. This year’s been beyond belief. Hopefully it keeps going.”

Golden has shared with his players some stories about his life here. He worked as an assistant to Smith at the University of San Francisco before taking over as head coach in 2019 when Smith left for Washington State — a move that eventually brought Smith back to the Bay Area for the Stanford job last spring.

The Gators visited the famous Crissy Field by San Francisco’s waterfront on Wednesday morning to see the Golden Gate Bridge in all its beauty.

After practicing in Golden’s old gym at USF, which he called “a full-circle moment,” they managed to fit their large group into Golden’s favorite Original Joe’s in the North Beach neighborhood for dinner on Tuesday night. The coach had prime rib because “being here in San Francisco you can’t go wrong.”

At first, the restaurant told Golden they couldn’t accommodate his group of about 35 people.

“It’s been amazing. When the bracket came out and we saw we were the 1 seed in the West and obviously you see that the regionals in San Francisco, you can’t help but think about how awesome it would be to be able to experience that,” Golden said. “But there’s two games before that that you have to find a way to advance.

“And once we were able to get past UConn on Sunday, it kind of all hit me and (wife) Megan and our family that we’d have a chance to come back to the Bay Area. Just landing in San Francisco yesterday and just kind of driving back through the city, I had to pinch myself a little bit.”

The Gators (32-4) hope to make it an extended stay by getting past No. 4 seed Maryland (27-8) on Thursday. Florida, which ended UConn’s bid for a third straight NCAA championship in the second round, is aiming for its first Final Four appearance since 2014.

Golden even has one of Smith’s former Washington State players starting, Rueben Chinyelu.

No matter how long this NCAA run lasts, Golden will have big supporters in Bennett and Smith. Seeing the 39-year-old Golden on the big stage brings a smile to Smith’s face. He finds it amazing that Golden “doesn’t age.”

Golden recalled Smith always pushing him to be tough as a mid-major player in the East Bay suburb of Moraga. They’ve both come a long way.

“It’s awesome,” said Smith, who had dinner with the team Tuesday and never saw a bill. “I think part of why they’re successful and why they’ve been able to get good quickly is because Saint Mary’s is one of the tougher programs in the country and Todd did five years. He had to bring it every day and prove himself.”