Golding is certainly glittering this week! On Saturday Abilene Christian beat New Orleans 77-60 in the Southland tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Wildcats were only 16-16 last year but bounced back this year to win 27 games and claim the school’s 1st-ever NCAA tourney bid. Earlier this week HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Coach Golding about leading his alma mater to the NCAA tourney for the very 1st time.
You were a PG/assistant at Abilene Christian: how good a player were you back in the day, and how did you 1st get into coaching? I was not a very good player but I always joke with my AD because he averaged 20 PPG and I averaged about 3 PPG. The moral of the story: do not pass the ball!
In the 2018 CBI you had a 7-PT OT loss at Drake: what did your team learn from that loss that will help them this year? It gave us some great experience. Last year was the 1st year that we were eligible for postseason play and we played a great Drake team on national TV. The atmosphere was comparable to an NCAA tourney game, which helped us in Katy last weekend at the conference tourney.
You never won more than 16 games during each of your 1st 7 years as head coach: how on earth were you able to win 27 this year? This transition is not for the weak of heart: it is a very challenging deal to move from D-2 to D-1. There was not a lot of support from the administration in the past but we raised about $500,000 in guarantee games during our 1st year of the transition. We recruited high school kids, developed them, and they stuck with us. Each year we continued to get better before breaking the door down this year.
The only fellow NCAA tourney team you played this year was Texas Tech (who beat you by 34 PTS): how good are the Red Raiders? They are really good: the best defensive team that I have ever coached against. Coach Chris Beard was actually my college coach here at ACU and he has been really good to us. Jarrett Culver scored 30 PTS against us and showed that he is a future NBA player. I think they have another chance to make a deep run.
Your team is top-20 in the nation with 38.3 3P%: what role does the 3-PT shot play in your offensive philosophy? It plays a large role, especially after losing our best big man last month. We try to shoot threes at a high percentage/rate, which is a big factor for us.
Last month you dismissed Jalone Friday/BJ Maxwell from the team for violating team policies: how difficult was the decision, and how were you able to overcome such an obstacle so late in the season to win each of your final 6 games? I cannot really talk about the dismissal but it was tough on our guys and the most emotional meeting that I have ever had to hold as a coach. We were able to rally the troops due to having so many juniors/seniors with great leadership. They have paid their dues and our saying was “finish the fight”. Every team has adversity during a 6-month season with injuries/suspensions/etc. but we handled it at a high level.
Earlier this month you were named Southland COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It meant a ton to me: I was surprised but very honored because I have a ton of respect for every coach in our league. This is not the easiest job but everyone knows how we built our program and that award is a credit to our entire staff.
In the Southland tourney title game last Saturday SR SG/SF Jaren Lewis scored a game-high 20 PTS in 23 minutes in a win over New Orleans en route to being named conference tourney MVP: how was he able to play his best when it mattered the most? He realized that he was 40 minutes away from his dream. He is from Orlando but we could just not find a place in Florida for him to have a homecoming game so to have the tourney in Jacksonville was just the perfect situation for him. You want seniors like him who know that their college careers are over if they lose.
What did it mean to you to win a title at your alma mater, and what has the reaction been like since returning to campus? It has been crazy! We go to chapel every day and they introduced the men’s and women’s teams the other day because we both won our respective conference tourneys. The whole town is rallying around us and everywhere you go people are talking about it. It is an honor to be the 1st coach to lead this institution into March Madness: this place basically raised me and has done a lot for me.
What do you think about getting a #15 seed, and what do you know about Kentucky? I turned them on this morning, watched about 10 minutes of the Wildcats…and then turned off my laptop and took a walk! Kentucky is 1 of the most historic programs in the country with a Hall of Fame coach and plenty of 5-star players. Everyone will be talking about Kentucky but they will also learn about Abilene Christian. I have never met Coach John Calipari but I have so much respect for what he has done: it will be so nice just to shake his hand before the game. We are fired up for the opportunity.