At Just 34, Todd Golden is Set to Lead the USF Dons

It was 1991 when Cal Head Coach Mark Fox began his coaching career as an assistant at the University of Washington. At that time, new San Francisco Head Coach Todd Golden was six-years-old. While Fox certainly has the years of experience on Golden, the 34-year-old takes over a program in much better health than Cal.

After a strong start to last year’s season (the Dons were 17-3 and 5-1 in the West Coast Conference), two three-game losing streaks doomed San Francisco to a fourth-place finish in the conference. A first-round loss in the conference tournament to Pepperdine kept the Dons out of any post-season play. 

San Francisco Dons

Head Coach: Todd Golden

Last Season: 21-10 (9-7), KenPom No. 67

2020 KenPom Projection: 16-15 (7-9), No. 136

2020 Torvik Projection: 18-13 (8-8), No. 97

While Golden is new to head coaching, he got his start in 2012 as an assistant for Kyle Smith at Columbia. Besides a few years under Bruce Pearl and Auburn, Golden had been a Smith follower and took over as assistant at San Francisco during Smith’s first year leading the Dons before the 2017 season.

On offense, Smith-coached teams play slow, shoot the ball well, and don’t turn it over much. Last season, the Dons had a KenPom adjusted offense rating at No. 45 in the country. Its 53.5% eFG% was good for 56th in the country and with a turnover rate of just 15.1%, the Dons ranked 15th in protecting the ball.

On defense, the Dons had success under Smith by limiting offensive rebounds and defending the three-point shot. Last season, San Francisco ranked 40th with an offensive rebound rating of about 25%. Teams shot just 31.9% from three-point range against the Dons, which was 47th in the country, according to KenPom.

Key Returning Players:

Charles Minlend, 6-4, JR., 14.5 pts, 4.7 rbds, 1.7 asts

Jordan Ratinho, 6-5, SR., 9.4 pts, 2.9 rbds, 1.1 asts

Jimbo Lull, 7-0, SR., 8.5 pts, 5.3 rbds

The Dons have a solid group of returners led by the two big guards and massive center listed above. Minlend is a great all-around player that can score, rebounds very well for a guard, and distributes the ball decently. The Dons are tall. Minlend and Ratinho are the second and third shortest players on the team (only 6-2 Jamaree Bouyea is shorter). While Lull is the tallest at seven feet, the Dons have six players that are 6-8 or taller.

Key Incoming Players:

Jonas Visser, 6-10, FR.

Josh Kunen, 6-8, FR.

Isaiah Hawthorne, 6-8, FR.

It’s tough to say “key incoming” players when the three freshmen coming in for the Dons don’t have recruiting rankings and the Dons are already pretty stacked at all positions. But these three freshmen have the opportunity to break into the rotation at the four and five positions for the Dons. Visser is from the Netherlands, where he played in some international games. Kunen is also an international player, coming from Australia. And Hawthorne is out of Tracy where he played for Tracy High School.

Key Losses:

Frankie Ferrari, 14.7 pts, 5.5 asts, 3.2 rbds, 1.6 stls

Matt McCarthy, 8.7 pts, 6.3 rbds

Nate Renfro, 7.3 pts, 5 rbds, 1.6 asts

Losing Frankie Ferrari to graduation is a big hole for the Dons. He was a stat sheet-stuffer and led the team in scoring, assists, and steals. McCarthy led the team in rebounds and at about 43%, could really spread the floor with his three-point shooting. Lastly, Renfro led the team in blocks and also was a solid rebounder.

This is a tough game for the Bears. KenPom projects a 74-69 San Francisco win and Torvik is similar, predicting a 75-68 win for the Dons. Both projections give Cal a 30% or less chance of winning. But it’s also an opportunity for the Bears to sneak a win from a decent, but not great Dons team also with a first-year head coach.

Other non-con opponent previews:

UC Davis

Texas

Georgetown

Duke

Prairie View A&M

Cal Baptist

UNLV

Pepperdine