Florida HC Todd Golden addresses White House visit as Gators celebrate third national championship

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Final Four-Florida Champions Celebration - Source: Imagn

After winning the national championship, the Florida Gators will visit the White House, as per coach Todd Golden.

He confirmed the news and shared his initial feelings about going to the landmark and meeting President Donald Trump during the Gatos' on-campus ceremony.

"I'm pretty excited about that," Todd Golden said.

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Todd Golden's squad was recognized at halftime of the Gators football team's spring game in front of 89,000 fans.

The Gators are the second college national championship team to confirm its visit to the White House. The Ohio State Buckeyes football squad will also visit the President.

The timeline wasn't mentioned during the event, but it might be tricky, as several members of Todd Golden's championship team will be somewhere else. Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard ran out of eligibility, while Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh could enter the NBA Draft.

Florida won its third college basketball national title on Monday, beating the Houston Cougars 65-63 in a thrilling national championship game. It was the first national title for the Gators since winning in 2006 and 2007. The school visited the White House both times.

Walter Clayton Jr. was Florida's leading scorer throughout the season but struggled mightily for most of the championship game. Will Richard and Alex London, though, stepped up with 18 and 12 points, respectively. Clayton found his stroke late, finishing with 11 points and leading the Gators with seven assists.

Todd Golden's team won their last 12 games of the season, including the SEC Tournament Championship. They also beat two No. 1 seeds (Auburn and Houston) a No. 3 seed (Texas Tech) and two-time defending national champion UConn Huskies.

Florida's Todd Golden shares most unexpected person to congratulate him on championship run

During Florida Gators coach Todd Golden's media session after the championship celebration, he was asked about one of the most unexpected people he heard from: his childhood idol, coach Mike Krzyzewski.

“In terms of kind of like more unexpected, Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) has reached out a couple of times. I spoke to him I think right before and right after the SEC tournament, and then I got back with him again this week. Just the respect and love that he showed our program meant a ton," Todd Golden said.

Coach K won five titles with the Duke Blue Devils before stepping down as the Blue Devils coach in 2022. He was in attendance for the national semifinal between his former team and Houston.

Krzyzewski retired as the winningest coach in NCAA men's basketball history with 1,202 career wins.

About the author

Allan Wolburg Robles is a College Sports journalist at Sportskeeda with over 17 years of experience in the field writing for publications including Reforma, Yahoo! OddsShark and Apuesta. Allan studied Communications at Anáhuac University, where he learned what would become the basis of a trade that was already a dream of his before starting college.

His favorite team is Army West Point as when he was young, Allan lived in West Point for a couple of years, went to pretty much every home game, a couple of Army-Navy games and even got to meet some of the players.

Allan's favorite players of all time include Tommie Frazier, who was unbelievable during the Nebraska dynasty of the early 90's. Tim Tebow was also a favorite, mainly because of his leadership skills, although he was also awesome on the football field. As a fan of defensive football, (or what's left of it), Sean Taylor could take over a game for Miami.

Allan has always considered himself a student of the game more than a fan of it. So the historical part and evolution of the game, as well as the ins and outs of what happens on the field, and being able to put it into words for the audience, are his biggest strengths.

Besides sports, Allan enjoys reading books, watching movies and spending time with his dogs.

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Edited by Bhargav