SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The phrase “March Madness” couldn’t be more appropriate for Florida assistant coaches John Andrzejek and Kevin Hovde, who were greeted by the lively sounds of a Mariachi band when the Gators arrived in town late Wednesday afternoon.

Florida’s path to the Final Four has featured four wins, a regional trip across the country—and two major coaching announcements along the way.

On March 20, Campbell University revealed that 32-year-old Andrzejek would take over as its new head coach. Just four days later, Columbia University named 36-year-old Hovde as its next head coach.

Now, as Andrzejek (defensive coordinator) and Hovde (offensive coordinator) enter their final week with the Gators, both are pouring in extra hours. While preparing for their next chapters, they remain fully committed to the present, determined to help Florida finish their story with a national championship.

Gators assistant Kevin Hovde, left, and head coach Todd Goldenhave worked together for nine seasons at three different schools. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)

"I'll be fine,'' Kevin Hovde said when asked about juggling responsibilities and staying focused. "The reality is, I feel very fortunate and happy to be in this position. It's all great things. And, you know, we just want to make sure that we give everything we have to finish out this season with the Gators. What we're doing here is pretty special."

For John Andrzejek, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. During Florida’s NCAA Tournament opening weekend in Raleigh, N.C.—where the Gators defeated Norfolk State and defending champion Connecticut—he was also managing his introduction as Campbell University’s new head coach. Located in Buies Creek, N.C., just south of Raleigh, Campbell sent a media crew to capture content and film an introductory video the day before Florida’s first-round game. Andrzejek balanced those duties while preparing for what became a 26-point win over Norfolk State.

As congratulatory texts and calls flooded in by the hundreds, Andrzejek had to put his phone aside.

"It's been crazy,'' he admitted. "When that stuff was going on, that was sort of the height of the discombobulation. It's definitely two full-time jobs, but I've really tried to stay locked in with the Gators and make sure we're doing everything we can to guard these teams as well as possible."

The journey has been unforgettable for both assistants. Last week, they joined head coach Todd Golden in returning to familiar ground in San Francisco, where Florida defeated Maryland and Texas Tech to secure its first Final Four berth in 11 years. Practices were held at the University of San Francisco, where Golden had spent three seasons as head coach before taking over the Gators in 2022.

Hovde worked alongside Golden for five years at USF, while back in 2016-17, Golden served as associate head coach under Kyle Smith, Hovde was an assistant, and Andrzejek handled director of basketball operations duties.

Golden expressed pride in seeing both assistants earn their first head coaching opportunities. He also announced that Jonathan Safir, Florida’s director of basketball strategy and analytics, would be promoted to assistant coach to help fill the gap. Still, Golden emphasized the lasting impact Hovde and Andrzejek have had on the program.

"Kevin obviously deserves a lot of credit for the success our program's had. He's been with us since day one here at Florida,'' Golden said. "He's been a big part of who we recruit and just how we build out our program on a day-to-day basis and has coordinated our offense. A guy that I think is going to become a great head coach.

"And then for John, really the same. He came here later and has done a really good job of building out the foundation of our defense and holding us to a higher standard on that side of the ball. Tireless worker, does a great job of raising the bar in terms of just basically the amount of time and effort he puts into our program. We're going to miss those guys a lot."

The results speak for themselves. Florida’s offense is averaging 85.5 points per game, ranking second nationally in offensive efficiency, following a program-record 85.7 points per game last season under Hovde’s guidance. On the defensive side, Andrzejek has overseen a dramatic improvement, with the Gators climbing from 94th nationally a year ago to 10th this season.

"I'll admit, there were some rough days in the preseason,'' Andrzejek said. "It was not always sunshine and flowers and Kumbaya. We definitely made it a priority as a program to coach them harder on the defensive end, hold them more accountable, and just ask them to devote more energy to that side of the ball."

Florida's defense made significant strides the past two seasons under John Andrzejek, left, who revamped the intensity with the blessing of head coach Todd Golden. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)

John Andrzejek joined Florida after Todd Golden’s first season, following four years as an assistant at Washington State under Kyle Smith, who later accepted the head coaching role at Stanford. Since then, Golden, Kevin Hovde, Andrzejek, and fellow assistant Carlin Hartman have leaned on many of the same philosophies they once applied while working with Smith at Columbia. With the addition of modern tools, advanced analytics, and evolving strategies, Florida’s staff has earned the label of playing "nerd ball."

They don’t shy away from the nickname—in fact, they embrace it.

"It's great,'' Hovde said. "I mean, it all started back when we were all at Columbia together. We used advanced analytics and across every part of our program. Most programs are using it to an extent now, but I do think we were on the forefront of it."

Andrzejek echoed the sentiment. "It's definitely a big part of our success,'' he said. "We try to leverage data as much as possible to inform our decision making, whether that's in the guys we recruit, the playing style that we play on both sides of the ball, some of the scouting decisions that we make, but it's only a piece of the puzzle. There's an old-school coaching component of it too, that is certainly really important."

Hovde now steps into the head coaching role at Columbia, succeeding Jim Engles, who had replaced Smith in 2016 but struggled to find the same level of success. For Andrzejek, Columbia also holds personal significance—it’s where he earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy and first crossed paths with Golden and Hovde.

Hovde intends to carry forward many of the lessons learned under Golden.

"How to run an organization, I think that's where Todd's incredible," Hovde said. "He really operates like he's a CEO. He's a great delegator, just great at kind of having his fingerprints all over the program, but also allowing the staff to do their jobs. The second piece, I would say, is our experience here. I think it really helped me become even more confident in our program and our system and that it can work anywhere."

That system has propelled Florida all the way to the Final Four, just two wins away from proving that "nerd ball" can capture a national championship.

"It's been the time of my life," Andrzejek said. "I mean, it's been awesome to kind of build the program up from a program that was coming off an NIT appearance, to now we're in the Final Four, and we got as good a chance of anybody to go all the way and cut them down."