SAN FRANCISCO (Kron) – Florida State head coach Todd Golden is excited to return to San Francisco this week. Golden leads the No. 1 seed gator on Thursday for a sweet 16 matchup against No. 4 seed Maryland.
But before the courtroom fight, Golden, the University of San Francisco head coach from 2019-22, wanted to show his team his favorite place in the area.
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One of those places was the original Joe from the famous San Francisco restaurant. Even millions of basketball coaches like Golden, it is one of the hardest bookings to get into town. Golden reached for the North Beach location shortly after Florida’s victory at UConn on Sunday, but efforts to secure the table failed.
Getting an appointment for two is hard enough – not to mention the space that houses 38 people, consisting of players, coaches and staff. Plus, there were already three private events that fully booked the original Joe.
Luckily, the Golden 39 Italian-American eatery was able to host the Gators team on Tuesday night. The original Joe has closed its open seat bar and lounge area to accommodate such large parties.
That’s what the restaurant hasn’t done in over a decade.
“This is what we’ve only done once in 13 years since we opened at this location,” a spokesperson for the original Joe said in an email to KRON4. “This was a special exception because we wanted to make this happen for Todd and his team.”
“To close it off with last night (the original Joe). (The staff) did an incredible job hosting us. It was an amazing experience,” Golden said at the Chase Centre, where the tournament game will be held. “Our peers really enjoyed it. It’s an experience that many of these people didn’t have. You can come all the way west and be in a great city like San Francisco.”
“Just landing in San Francisco and walking through the city, I had to pinch myself a bit. It was a perfect moment,” he said.
It wasn’t just the popular restaurants that Golden went with his team. The coach took his team to the Crissy Field to see the world-famous views of Golden Gate Bridge.
Golden ordered the prime ribs from the original jaw.
“You know, you’re here in San Francisco and you’re not wrong (so), he said.
Golden is 72-33 in his three seasons as Florida head coach. The Gators head to Maryland Thursday at 4:39pm.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
