Along with Saturday’s Final Four game between Auburn and Florida being a rematch from earlier in the season, it will be a reunion of sorts on college basketball’s biggest stage.

It’s another matchup between Bruce Pearl and Todd Golden, two coaches who worked together on Auburn’s staff from 2014-2016. It was Golden’s first high-major assistant coaching job, and he was one of Pearl’s first assistants when he arrived at Auburn in 2014.

Now, 11 years later, the two meet with a spot in the national championship game on the line.

“I’m incredibly grateful for him and his family and the opportunities they provided for me,” Golden told reporters Thursday. “I would not be here if I didn’t have my relationship and experience working with and being around Bruce and his son Steven. A little bit of a full-circle moment for both of us.”

Golden’s first role at Auburn was director of basketball operations for the 2014-2015 season, but he was elevated to an assistant coaching position in his second year on the Plains.

While at Auburn, Golden took a lead role in analytical and metric data, along with working with the Tigers’ guards and handling scheduling duties, according to his bio on Florida’s team website.

“Todd recognized how close I was to my coaches, how much I relied on my coaches, how much I expected of my coaches, and the bar that we set about the way they behaved, the way they taught, the way they carried themselves,” Pearl said. “Even though I only had Todd for two years, he helped lay the foundation.”

Golden was hired as Florida’s head coach ahead of the 2022-2023 season, making this his third year in Gainesville. Pearl and Golden have evenly split the four games they’ve played against each other, with the most recent being a Florida win at Neville Arena in February.

Saturday’s game breaks the tie and is the second time the two have faced each other in the postseason. The other meeting came in the 2024 Southeastern Conference tournament championship game, with Auburn beating Florida 86-67.

“I don’t like it as much in the regular season,” Golden said of having to play against Pearl. “At this point in the year, when you’re in the Final Four, it is what it is. You’re going to go out there and do everything you can to take each other out. I think in a way we’re both pleasantly surprised to be competing against each other at this point in the season.”

Auburn and Florida’s Final Four matchup is scheduled for 5:09 p.m. Saturday and will be televised on CBS.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m