SAN ANTONIO — Todd Golden will become the youngest coach in 42 years to win a national championship or Kelvin Sampson will take the crown as the oldest coach to cut down the nets.
Golden, 39, and Sampson, 69, will be on opposite sidelines at the Alamodome as Florida (35-4) and Houston (35-4) play Monday (8:50 p.m., CBS) in the national championship game of the Final Four.
If Golden’s Gators get it done, he would be the youngest coach to win the title since N.C. State’s Jim Valvano did it at age 37 in 1983 against Houston. Sampson would overtake UConn’s Jim Calhoun, who won the national title at age 68 in 2011, as the oldest men’s coach to lead his team to a championship.
Overall, 71-year-old Geno Auriemma is the oldest coach to win an NCAA title. Auriemma’s Huskies beat South Carolina on Sunday at the women’s Final Four.
