Director of Player Development Taurean Green moved into his new (and, for now, barren) office at the UF basketball facility this week.
Green Gives Gators Link to Glorious Past
Thursday, May 26, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The title and duties are new, but the surroundings are altogether familiar to Taurean Green. In his previous Florida Gator life, Green spent the bulk of his time on the ground floor of the University of Florida basketball complex. The locker room, training room, weight room and, of course, the gym.
Now, he has an office upstairs that he's only occupied for a couple days. It's relatively scant of photos and memorabilia, but the walls, shelves and desk will soon be home to reminders of Green's championship pedigree.
"I'm a Florida boy at heart, so this is home," said Green, who Monday officially joined the UF staff in the newly created role as director of player development. "The chance to be back in Gainesville and the goal of getting us back to that elite level — where the Gators should be — was something I couldn't pass up. I just want to contribute and help develop these guys any way I can, on and off the court."
It's a homecoming made in orange-and-blue heaven. One of the most beloved players in Florida history (and floor general of the most beloved teams), Green won a Class 2A state title at Westminster Academy and arrived at UF in 2004, alongside fellow freshmen Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer. A backup role player as a freshman, Green took over point guard duties for his '05-06 sophomore season and helped play-make the Gators into college basketball history.
His UF career numbers show 1,174 points (38th on the team's all-time list), 38.7 percent from the 3-point arc, 85.6 percent from the free throw line (second in team history) and 397 assists. More importantly, of course, Green was part of a three-year run when the Gators went an astounding 22-1 in postseason, including 18 straight to close his career in a starring role with the last college program to win back-to-back NCAA championships. His 1,050 points during those two title runs led the squad during those epic seasons.
Taurean Green (11), flanked by his teammates, hoists the 2007 NCAA Tournament championship hardware after the Gators won a second straight national championship.
In 2007, when he joined Noah, Horford and Brewer as early entries into the NBA Draft, Green was a second-round pick of the Portland Trailblazers. He lasted two seasons in the NBA before heading overseas for a 13-year, seven-country international odyssey that included league championships in both France and Poland. The latter came in 2021, with Green retiring as a player on top and returning stateside to join the Chicago Bulls — and former UF coach Billy Donovan — in a player development role with that franchise.
Donovan could not have been more pleased with the job Green did with the Bulls, especially on the relationship-building front with players, yet is excited for his former player and this opportunity to return to a program he helped define.
"A lot of people here were sad to see him go, but happy are happy for him because the guys really loved him here," Donovan said Thursday. "Taurean is going to take a lot of pride in his job, but he's also going to take a lot of pride in the history at Florida that he was a part of, and do what he can to lay down a foundation of expectation in terms of competing."
Perfect. When Golden was hired in late-March, his intel-gathering with regard to putting together his first Florida staff sent him looking to the past to help direct the future.
"I wanted to find a way to connect with what is obviously the proudest time this program has ever had, and maybe capture some of that magic and some of that culture when Coach Donovan had it going," Golden said. "I think connecting to the past is super important, but it can also be a little daunting. Those teams were so good. It will be hard to get back to that. But a lot of people I have come across in my short time here have so many fond memories of that era. So I can learn a lot from Taurean and how Coach Donovan and those guys went about their business."
For Green, now 36 and father of three, the move is special on two fronts. Not only does he get to reunite with the place and program he loves, but it's another step in his post-playing career goal of one day being a coach.
His father, Sidney Green, was an All-America forward at UNLV, a first-round pick of the Bulls and played in the NBA for 10 seasons before moving into the coaching profession, including head-coaching stints at North Florida (1997-99) and Florida Atlantic (1999-2005). As such, Taurean grew up drilling with his dad and learned not only to love the individual work, but understand and appreciate the value of it.
Green swore by that work ethic in high school, embraced Donovan's intense year-round emphasis on year-round individual instruction as a player, and carried that passion with him through professional stops in Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Israel, Turkey and Poland.
Taurean Green during his point guard thing during one of his seven-country stops over a 13-season overseas playing career that included league championships on both France (2015) andn Poland (2021)
After retiring last year, he joined the Bulls in a player development capacity. During the 2021-22 NBA season, he was with the team daily — home and on the road — and was in constant source for pre- and post-practice work. What he saw from the most consummate of professionals he will now try to translate to up-and-coming Gators.
"Obviously, they have different games," Green said, smiling as he stated the obvious in comparing a five-time NBA all-star to a talented and promising sophomore who averaged 5.5 points last season. "You can't force things. You have to see how a player moves, how a player plays the game, then come up with packages you want to work on. Every guy is different. Kowacie is not DeMar, but there may things you can take from his game; like his footwork and pivots, or how he goes into his pull-ups."
Green's on-the-floor duties at UF will have limitations due to NCAA rules, but he can script workouts with assistant coaches, evaluate players' tape and provide valued feedback in all the permitted ways.
He'll also lend his input in ways away from basketball.
"Player development is also life development," said Green, who left school a year early in 2007, but made good on a promise to his parents and graduated from UF in 2012 with a degree in Event Planning and Recreation Promotion. "I was a student here once, so I know everything these are going to go through. Being a grown man and being able to look back on things that I could have done better — mistakes I made, things I could have handled better — I'm going to dive in all that and try to hold these dudes accountable and help make sure they're making great decisions."
They'll need to listen. There's a reason Green's image hangs on a downstairs hallway wall, along with a slew of other Gator Greats, on the way to the weight room.
"I think he'll be fantastic," said UF head athletic trainer Dave Werner, who joined the basketball program the same summer Green arrived as a freshman. "He's enthusiastic. He cares about relationships. He's unbelievably loyal and really cares about this program and the tradition. It's special to him."
On that front, Green plans on taking a lead role in Golden's desires to reconnect to the past; all of the past. Yes, Green remains tight with his championship teammates — "I talked to Chris Richard yesterday," he said — but those relationships Werner referenced extend to players before and after he wore the Florida uniform. Mike Miller to Erving Walker; Udonis Haslem to Chandler Parsons; Dan Cross to Kenny Boynton. If they played for the Gators, they matter.
"They're all excited they have someone here [in this role] now because they all want to support the University of Florida," Green said. "It's going to be good. Those guys are excited to reconnect and want to be able to come back and feel welcome. Some, for whatever reason, maybe didn't feel that way, but we want all those guys to come around and be around these [current] guys and talk to them. We're a family here."
Taurean Green drives against a UCLA defender in the 2006 NCAA title game.
Call it "relationship rebuilding," in some cases. Better yet, call it "past player development."
"I believe Taurean will be a great ambassador for that," Donovan said.
Consider it one of many elements Green appears perfectly suited for as his wades into the next phase of his post-playing career.
In the place he loves most, no less.
"Just being able to come back and be part of this program — to be part of trying to get us back to where we need to be — is great," Green said. "I've been around a lot of great coaches, but now I'm really anxious to see how Coach Golden does things with his analytics. You have to be willing to learn in this basketball industry. No one has all the answers. Not Coach D, not Coach Todd, none of us. We've all been through different experiences."
Green is back to share his experiences with a new generation of players. They'd be wise to listen.
