"Oh, would I like to be his agent": Trump showers praise on Florida's Todd Golden during D.C. stop

Todd Golden led Florida to its third national championship in April, defeating the Houston Cougars in the final. The Gators were invited to the White House on Wednesday to be honored by President Donald Trump.

Trump took time to recognize the coach's accomplishment during the press conference, before inviting Golden and his champion Gators into the Oval Office.

"I just met your coach. I can see why you won," Trump said.

The president continued to shower praise on Golden and even cracked a joke.

"Congratulations to a really great young head coach, Todd Golden, on the entire job he did, the season, the inspiration that he gave these players," Trump added. "He’s unbelievable as a coach. I heard a lot of great things about him. Oh, would I like to be his agent."

Trump then got into the nitty-gritty of Florida's season, including the SEC Tournament. In the SEC final, the Gators defeated Tennessee 86-77, but the Volunteers cut a 13-point Florida lead down to five late in the game.

"That’s called sometimes choke time," Trump joked. "That’s never good when you take that big lead and you’re thinking about your victory speech and you forget to play basketball. And then all of a sudden you say, 'Oh man, we could lose this sucker, huh?' That’s never good, but you handled it. The pressure was on, you handled it."

Trump further praised the team for overcoming adversity in their championship game against Houston. Florida was down by 12 points in the second half before mounting a furious comeback and securing a 65-63 victory.

"Did you think you’re going to win?" Trump asked Golden.

"I did," Golden responded.

"That’s what he gets paid for," Trump added.

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Todd Golden vows to keep building toward another White House celebration soon

The Florida Gators won back-to-back national championships in 2006-07, so there is precedent for doing it again. Todd Golden is not making any promises, but intent on getting back to the White House next year.

"I’m incredibly proud of my players and our staff in the work that we’ve done over the last year," Golden said during the closing ceremony, after thanking President Trump for the invitation. "And our goal is to do everything we can to put ourselves in position to be here again next year, but we’ve got a lot of work to do in the meantime."

After the speech, Todd Golden handed Trump a customized No. 47 jersey, and the team presented him with an autographed basketball.

The Gators will look different next year, as Walter Clayton Jr, Will Richard, and Alijah Martin have all exhausted their eligibility.