Just 1 Jewish coach still in NCAA title contention as Todd Golden’s Florida faces Houston in men’s basketball final
But Houston features an Israeli-born guard, Emanuel Sharp, who played for Israel’s under-16 national team

Head coach Todd Golden of the Florida Gators looks on during the first half of a game against the Auburn Tigers, Feb. 10, 2024, in Gainesville, Florida. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Three Jewish coaches entered the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four on Saturday. Now, just one remains.
Florida, coached by Todd Golden, beat Auburn, coached by Bruce Pearl, 79-73 in a close game Saturday evening. It isn’t the first time the two Jewish coaches have shared the court: A decade ago, Golden was at Auburn as an assistant to Pearl, who coached him as a player at the Maccabiah Games in 2009. Golden also played professionally in Israel.
Later that night, Duke, led by Jewish coach Jon Scheyer, lost to Houston in a shocking collapse. Scheyer’s team was up by six with 40 seconds on the clock but crumbled as Houston roared back to win the game, capping a 15-3 run to win 70-67.
In the women’s tournament, USC, coached by Lindsay Gottlieb, who is Jewish, lost in the Elite Eight.
Duke’s loss ended hopes of a men’s final Monday night with two Jewish coaches against each other. But Golden will face an opponent whose career began in Israel. Emanuel Sharp, a guard, was born in Tel Aviv, where his father Derrick Sharp coached Maccabi Tel Aviv for more than a decade, and played for Israel’s under-16 national basketball team.
As Golden gets a shot at March Madness glory, he’s also seen controversy: Earlier this year, multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct, prompting a Title IX investigation. The charges were dismissed as Golden had not committed misconduct “within a university program or activity,” the investigators said.
The Houston vs. Florida final tips off Monday at 8:50 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
In Case You Missed It
-
Food This Passover, try a big, glorious spring salad for the karpas
-
Fast Forward Just 1 Jewish coach still in NCAA title contention as Todd Golden’s Florida faces Houston in men’s basketball final
-
Fast Forward Breakthrough Prize winner Dennis Gaitsgory is planning to attend a protest in Israel
-
Fast Forward Netanyahu in Washington again to meet with Trump to discuss tariffs, Gaza
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.