Florida's Todd Golden was chosen as the SEC Basketball Coach of the Year. The vote was held before the SEC and NCAA tournaments began. Florida players Rueben Chinyelu, Urban Klavžar, Thomas Haugh, and Alex Condon were also honored for their regular-season play.
Not long ago, as the Gators rolled up victory after victory, Golden crowed he had found the magic for big men to dominate opponents. Vanderbilt didn't buy that claim and dumped the Gators from the SEC Tournament with a 91-74 win. The Gators finished the season, losing to the Dores, beating Prairie View A&M, and losing to Iowa in the NCAA Tournament.
Given that Big Dance 1-seeds advance to the Sweet 16 85% of the time, Florida not getting past the Round of 32 was a collapse.
Four Best SEC Basketball Coaches
The best SEC basketball coaches in the 2025-26 season were Nate Oats, Mark Byington, John Calipari, and Rick Barnes. An argument can be made for each one to be ranked No. 1. Crimson Tide basketball fans can argue for Oats as the best. Given the number and length of injuries the Crimson Tide struggled through, Oats had to play much of the season with a diminished roster.
Losing the Crimson Tide's second-leading scorer, Aden Holloway, was a crippling blow for the NCAA Tournament. Holloway was Alabama's most proficient three-point shooter. His long-range accuracy and nifty finishes around the rim made Holloway an offensive game-changer.
Maybe Alabama could not have beaten Michigan with Holloway, but the game would have likely been close enough to give the Crimson Tide an upset chance.
Back in January, with Vanderbilt 16-0, Mark Byington appeared to be the SEC's top coach. From that point, the Commodores finished the season with an 11-9 record. One of the 11 wins was a 91-74 spanking of Florida in the SEC Tournament. Fans of the Commodores love Byington.
John Calipari won almost 77% of his games as the Kentucky head coach. That wasn't good enough for the Big Blue Nation. The Razorbacks won the SEC Tournament, giving an exclamation point to Calipari's two-season rebuild of Arkansas.
The Vols failed to get past a Big Dance Elite again, but Rick Barnes and Tennessee have averaged 27 wins over the past five seasons. Barnes has six conference COTY awards in his long resume. He remains a top coach in the SEC.
For Florida fans who want to interject with a 'yes, but', Todd Golden is a national championship coach. But he was not one of the SEC's top four coaches in 2025-26.