SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A dominant storyline ahead of Saturday night’s Florida-Auburn game in the Final Four is the relationship between Gators head coach Todd Golden and Auburn coach Bruce Pearl.

If you have been stuck in an elevator without a device or haven’t been paying attention to the NCAA Tournament, Pearl hired Golden as Auburn’s director of basketball operations in 2014 and elevated him to assistant coach the following season, which helped boost Golden’s career.

They meet on college basketball’s biggest stage more than a decade later.

“It’s a little surreal, to be honest, to be able to be here at the Final Four,” Golden said Thursday. “But playing on Saturday against one of your biggest and best mentors is not exactly something you expect when the season starts. When the ball goes up on Saturday, it’s going to be pretty cutthroat. Until then, there will be a lot of love shown.”

About an hour after Golden spoke those words, Auburn associate head coach Steven Pearl, Bruce’s son, flashed a toothy grin when asked about Golden as he stood in Auburn’s locker room. While his father and Golden are the headliners, Steven Pearl and Golden initiated this narrative when they became friends while playing overseas.

Golden, who played at Saint Mary’s, and Steven, who played for his father when Bruce was the head coach at Tennessee, were two guys playing ball far from the spotlight of the Final Four as part of the Maccabi World Union, the world’s largest Jewish sports and educational organization according to its official website.

Steve Pearl said they played together first in 2006, and then in 2009 when Golden was co-captain of the USA Open Team – coached by Bruce Pearl – that won gold at the Maccabi Games, known as the “Jewish Olympics.”

Someone asked Steven Pearl on Thursday to give a scouting report on Golden as a player.

“Send him right, and don’t let him shoot,” Pearl said. “Make him activate his dribble going to his right hand, and don’t give him any clean looks. Todd was obviously a great shooter back in his day. That’s where our friendship kind of developed. He was a great player in his own right and, similar to how he coaches, just works his ass off.”

When Golden joined Bruce Pearl’s staff, Steven Pearl was an assistant strength coach for the Tigers. They have come a long way since then as coaches and friends. Both served at each other’s weddings and have maintained a close friendship. They FaceTimed on Sunday after Auburn defeated Michigan State to advance to the program’s second Final Four.

Steven Pearl could tell immediately that Golden had a bright future in coaching.

“From the second that he got onto our campus, just his mindset and the way his brain works, and how analytically focused he is, you could just tell that he’s obsessed with basketball. He’s obsessed with certain in-game situations. He’s obsessed with roster development and building,” Steve Pearl said. “Those small intricacies, those small details, are what make him so good. It’s no mystery or surprise that he was able to do it so quickly.

“At San Francisco, in a league where Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are just the kings, and he was able to make that program relevant in that league, which may be even more impressive than doing it at Florida, honestly, because Florida is a great basketball job.”

The respect is mutual. A decade after their time as Auburn colleagues ended when Golden left to become an assistant at San Francisco, they are living the dream they both had when they first met.

“It’s incredible,” Golden said. “It’s what life is all about.”

This is Golden’s first Final Four and Steve Pearl’s second. He was on his father’s staff when the Tigers lost a heartbreaker to eventual national champion Virginia in 2019 in the national semifinals.

Steve Pearl said once you make it to the Final Four, it’s all you think about until you return. He’s back. And when he looks down at the other bench on Saturday night at the Alamodome, he’ll see one of his best friends.

A friend, yes, but an enemy on that night.

“The week of is kind of weird because while we’ll still be friends, at the end of the day, we still want to win this game,” Pearl said. “It makes it a little different.”