From Final Four right to Columbia

UPINATTY LIGHT: Walter Clayton Jr. raises the NCAA championship trophy with 

his Florida teammates after completing the third-largest comeback in title game history.

8 Apr 2025 - New York Post

By ZACH BRAZILLER

SAN ANTONIO — For two weeks, it has been a juggling act for Kevin Hovde.

Balancing two jobs, his current gig as an assistant coach at Florida and his future one as the head coach at Columbia.

“It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been great,” he told The Post. “I got to actually get up to New York a week and a half ago and meet the team in person after we beat UConn in the second round.

“That was really valuable. While continuing to do my job at Florida, I’m trying to develop relationships with the guys and their families. That was really helpful.”

Hovde will take over a Columbia program that hasn’t gone .500 in conference play since the 2015-16 season, that hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1968, and is the only Ivy League school to fail to qualify for the conference’s four-team postseason tournament since it started in 2017.

But one thing working in his favor is experience — he was on Kyle Smith’s staff from 2011-16. Twice in that span, the Lions posted 20win seasons, the first time the program had done so since 1969-70.

“For us, I can speak to the success we had when we were there. The biggest thing we hit on is obviously Columbia is a place you can attract really high-achieving kids,” Hovde said. “We were able to get guys in there that were high achievers that cared about education, but also their identity was basketball, and it was really important for us. If we can recreate that again, I think we have a chance to be really successful.”

Since leaving Columbia, he has worked as an assistant at San Francisco (with Smith), Richmond, and now Florida, under Todd Golden, a Smith assistant at Columbia and San Francisco as well. Smith joked that he hired Hovde as a graduate assistant because he was willing to work for free. They bonded quickly.

“He’s got kind of this beautiful mind, how he sees things,” Smith said. “A little obsessive compulsive, maybe an idiot savant. Just perfect for Columbia. He sees things on the court that I wouldn’t necessarily see.”

He added: “I just think he’ll tap into what he’s done, his experiences, a little bit of what we were doing there at Columbia. He’s got a good relationship with the women’s coach [Megan Griffith], and she’s had good success. He’ll work the program, he’s a coach’s coach. They’ll be fun, exciting to watch.”

Hovde, 37, has been able to retain starters Avery Brown, Kenny Noland and Blair Thompson, giving him a good talent base to work with. Columbia, it should be noted, started this past season well, beating Villanova as part of an 8-0 start. But they went 1-13 in the Ivy League, in part due to a rash of injuries.

Hovde is bullish on being able to win at Columbia. When the job became available, it was one he wanted. He has seen firsthand that winning there is possible.

“It’s invaluable,” Hovde said. “Just having success there and kind of having the blueprint for how we did it.”

Hovde said his No. 1 priority was helping Florida win a national championship, but he has also made sure to do his other job, creating his staff and developing relationships with his new players. One downside is that with Florida winning it all, he won’t be able to attend the parade. His introductory news conference is Thursday.

“Onto the next thing,” Hovde said. “It’s all good.”