Columbia University Athletics

Kevin Hovde was hired as the 24th head coach of Columbia men’s basketball in March 2025.

Hovde (HUV-dee) returns to the Lions after helping the University of Florida Gators win a National Championship this year as an assistant coach. He served on Kyle Smith’s staff at Columbia from 2011-16.

Hovde spent three years with the Gators and worked alongside another former Columbia assistant and Florida head coach, Todd Golden, for nine seasons. UF went to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons and won the 2025 SEC Tournament Championship before its run in the Big Dance. Florida was a No. 1 seed out of the West Region in the 2025 NCAA Tournament and ranked in the top five nationally in fastbreak points, scoring margin, and scoring offense.

Florida's offense averaged 84.8 points per game in 2024-25 and ranked second in the country in offensive efficiency a season after the Gators averaged a program-record 85.7 points a game under Hovde's direction.

The Gators tallied four top-25 wins in 2023-24 and ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, rebounds per game, offensive rebounds per game and offensive rebounding percentage.

Florida’s overtime win at 10th-ranked Kentucky that season marked Florida’s first top-10 road win since 2003 and the 12th all-time win at Kentucky. Florida backed up the win at Kentucky with a home victory over #12 Auburn, an 81-65 rout that UF led by as many as 29. The Gators closed their home season in style with a 105-87 win vs. #16 Alabama, the most points UF has ever scored in regulation vs. a ranked opponent. Just 10 days later, Florida blitzed 18th-ranked Alabama, 102-88, in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.

In UF’s first SEC Tournament semifinal since 2019, the Gators battled back from 18 points down to defeat Texas A&M, marking the fifth-largest comeback in team history and earning the first trip to the SEC Tournament championship game since 2014.

The Gators’ success grew directly out of the coaching staff’s evaluation and recruiting efforts in 2023, as four incoming transfers were regular starters, including three All-SEC players in Walter Clayton Jr., Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel along with Micah Handlogten, who was one of the nation’s top offensive rebounders. Unranked freshmen Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh provided valuable frontcourt minutes, with Condon earning SEC All-Freshman recognition.

In Hovde’s first season at Florida, the Gators notched a win vs. #2 Tennessee, matching the highest-ranked win both in regular season win and at home win in Florida history. The Gators also topped #20 Missouri and defeated rival Florida State in Tallahassee, as the Gators staged a 19-point comeback – fourth-largest in program history – to earn the team’s first road win in the series since 2012.

Hovde came to Florida after spending the 2021-22 season at his alma mater, Richmond, under the direction of his former head coach Chris Mooney. While there, he helped the Spiders to the second round of the NCAA Tournament following an Atlantic 10 Tournament championship.

Hovde was on the staff at the University of San Francisco for five years, originally joining Smith with the Dons, and was promoted to the team’s associate coach on Golden’s staff from 2019 to 2021. He helped the Dons to a 22-12 record in 2019-20 and a win over fourth-ranked Virginia on November 27, 2020 – the program’s first win over a top-five opponent in 39 years. From 2016-17 to 2018-19, the Dons posted three consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in more than 35 years.

During his time at Columbia, he joined the program as the director of basketball operations in 2011 and was promoted to assistant coach the following season. In 2015-16, his final season at Columbia, the Lions finished 25-10, setting a school record for wins, and won the postseason CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Hovde played at Richmond from 2006-11. Arriving as a walk-on, Hovde earned a scholarship after his first year. He appeared in 99 games over four seasons, scoring 195 total points. As a senior in 2011, Hovde and the Spiders won the Atlantic 10 and advanced to the NCAA’s Sweet 16.

Hovde met his wife Jackie while at Columbia. She graduated from Columbia in 2009 and was a two-sport letterwinner in field hockey and basketball. They have two daughters, Lyla and Penny.