Head coach Todd Golden’s staff is starting to take shape as on the weekend he made a hire according to multiple sources around the program.
Korey McCray, an experienced SEC assistant originally from Decatur, Georgia, is said to be coming onto Golden’s staff. Most recently McCray was at Mississippi State where he has been since 2016. Before that he was an assistant at LSU, UCLA, and Mercer.
McCray fills the profile of what it would be expected Golden would go after for his staff after coming from California to Florida. McCray has ties all over the Southeast and is particularly known for his recruiting in the Atlanta area, a long time fertile recruiting ground for SEC schools. At Mississippi State McCray was known as their best recruiter and pulled in some excellent classes, repeatedly convincing top-100 kids to come to Starkville.
Perhaps most recently and notably, McCray was the lead recruiter on Iverson Molinar, one of the SEC’s best guards this last season.
In addition to his reputation as a major recruiter, he’s known as a developer of skill, particularly with guards. Before starting his D1 coaching career McCray worked as a private skill development trainer in Atlanta where he had a number of NBA clients. His ability to teach skills and develop guards has served him well in his coaching career and will be a key element of his role at Florida.
His time in the SEC will be valuable experience for scouting and gameplanning, and he’ll be leaned on for his knowledge of players throughout the league, many of whom come from the recruiting footprint McCray has covered.
McCray will join Jonathan Safir who was on Golden’s staff at San Francisco who followed him to Gainesville.
A player to perhaps keep an eye on right off the bat with McCray coming to Florida is top-100 guard Riley Kugel. Kugel was committed to Mississippi State but decommitted when Ben Howland was fired. McCray was his lead recruiter, and they are said to have an excellent relationship. Speaking of relationships–Kugel plays at Dr. Phillips in Orlando, alongside Gators signee Denzel Aberdeen (who I’m told still plans to come to Florida). With Kugel being a local player with a teammate already committed in addition to the McCray relationship this is a situation to look out for right away.