Jonathan Safir

Biography

Jonathan Safir enters his fifth season on Florida’s staff in 2026-27, helping lead the Gators to the NCAA Tournament and SEC Tournament championships in 2025 and the 2026 SEC regular season championship. Safir was promoted to assistant coach in 2025 following the Gators’ national championship, and he was instrumental in constructing Florida’s championship roster over his three seasons as director of basketball strategy and analytics. In 2025-26, Florida earned the eighth SEC championship in program history. The Gators posted a 16-2 league record, marking the team’s second-most SEC wins in program history (18, 2014). The Gators led the nation in rebounding margin (+14.7), offensive rebounding (15.9) and rebounding (45.1), and finished second in offensive rebounding percentage (43.3%). The Gators’ +17.0 scoring margin in SEC play was the second-highest of any SEC team this century, behind only Florida’s +17.6 margin in 2012-13. The Gators posted a 16-2 SEC record, clearing the field by a three-game margin as Golden earned his first career SEC Coach of the Year honor and was a semifinalist for Naismith Coach of the Year. The 16 SEC wins marked the second-most in program history, behind only UF’s 18 in in 2014. With the team success came myriad individual honors, as leading scorer Thomas Haugh earned All-American and first-team All-SEC honors. Rueben Chinyelu set program records for double-doubles (19) and offensive rebounds (137) on the way to Naismith and NABC Defensive Player