Former Abilene Christian letterman and assistant basketball coach Joe Golding is in his tenth season as the head men’s basketball coach at his alma mater.
 
Golding followed up a historic 2018-19 campaign with another outstanding season in 2019-20. The Wildcats struggled to start the season, falling to 2-5, before turning it around and finishing with a 20-11 record including a 15-5 mark in Southland play. The team once again earned a two-seed and a double-bye at the conference tournament before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team earned back-to-back 20-win regular seasons for the first time in program history. It was just the second time in program history that the team put together back-to-back 20-win seasons including the postseason, the first came during coach Golding's playing days. 

2018-19 was a historic season for the Wildcats under Golding as he led his team to a 27-7 record and their first Southland Conference Tournament Championship. ACU earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the first time at the Division I level, earning a 15-seed and a first round matchup with the University of Kentucky. ACU went 14-4 in Southland play to earn the two-seed in the SLC Championship and battled a tough Southeastern Louisiana team in the semifinal to earn a place in the championship. The Wildcats went on to earn a 77-60 win over New Orleans in the title game to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

The 2017-18 season was a historic one for ACU as the team had the highest win total (16) since the 2007-08 squad won 20 games. The Wildcats earned a berth in the collegeinsider.com (CIT) Tournament, the program’s first national postseason tournament at the NCAA Division I level, and its first national tournament appearance of any kind since the reaching the 1998-99 NCAA Division II national tournament.
 
The Wildcats excelled off the court as well, participating in numerous community service activities (Habitat for Humanity, Mudslinger Fun Run, Hudson Wade 5K) and posting a 3.0 cumulative GPA in the classroom, the program’s highest cumulative mark since 2013-14.
 
On the court, the Wildcats picked up NCAA Division I non-conference road wins over Campbell University, Bowling Green and Air Force and beat Texas State at home. The Wildcats missed out on the Southland Conference Postseason Tournament (finishing tied for eighth, but losing the tiebreaker), but beat Incarnate Word in the regular-season finale to earn a berth in the collegeinsider.com (CIT) national tournament.
 
ACU went to Des Moines, Iowa, and took Drake to the wire, rallying from 11 points down with 2:50 to play in regulation to send the game to overtime. The Bulldogs eventually won the game, 80-73, but the Wildcats had experienced the program’s first postseason game of any kind since the reaching the 2007-08 Lone Star Conference tournament and its first national tournament of any type since reaching the 1998-99 NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament. The 16 wins posted by the Wildcats last season were the most by the program since the 2007-08 squad won 20 games.
 
The Wildcats were 13-16 overall and 7-11 in the Southland Conference in their final year of transition (2016-17), but for the second straight season featured the league’s Freshman of the Year in Jalone Friday (following Jaylen Franklin in 2015-16).
 
In that 2015-16, campaign, Franklin led the led the team in scoring, setting an ACU single-season freshman scoring record with 486 points. He was voted the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year and was the national runner-up in fan voting as the College Court Madness Mid-Major National Freshman of the Year.
 
The Wildcats showed marked improvement in 2015-16 season, finishing the season at 13-18 overall and 8-10 in the Southland Conference. ACU finished seventh in the league and would have qualified for the conference’s post-season tournament if it had been eligible. ACU’s eight wins in conference play doubled their output of Southland victories in 2014-15 when they finished 4-14.
 
In 2014-15, in the program's second season at the NCAA Division I level, the Wildcats finished 10-21 overall, but doubled their number of Southland Conference wins, going from two in 2013-14 to four in 2014-15.

Despite the final record, ACU made several strides during the 2014-15 campaign, not the least of which was winning the championship at the Continental Tires Las Vegas Classic with wins over South Carolina State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. ACU won just two games against NCAA Division I opponents in 2013-14, but came away with seven NCAA Division I wins in 2014-15, including an impressive 72-61 home win over Sacramento State of the Big West Conference.

In the Wildcats’ first season at the NCAA Division I level (2013-14), Golding led ACU to an 11-20 mark against one of the toughest schedules in the nation. The Wildcats hit the road to play Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, Maryland, Iowa, TCU, Xavier and Towson all in the season’s first month.

The Wildcats were 2-12 in Southland Conference play, but lost four games by four points or less and another three games by eight points or less. ACU also led the Terrapins of Maryland through the game’s first 28 minutes before finally falling to the 2002 NCAA national champion.

Before returning to Abilene prior to the 2011-12 season, Golding coached the previous three seasons for head coach Steve Shields at Arkansas-Little Rock, helping the Trojans to the Sun Belt Conference title and an appearance in the NCAA Division I national tournament.  In addition to his normal coaching duties – which included working with the UALR guards – Golding was the Trojan's recruiting coordinator.

Golding joined the UALR coaching staff on July 1, 2008, bringing with him nine years of coaching experience at the junior college and high school levels. Prior to joining the Trojans, Golding spent three seasons (2005-08) as the top assistant to head coach Jason Copeland at Abilene Christian, where his primary duties included recruiting, scouting and on-floor coaching. A former point guard at ACU from 1994-98, he was also responsible for coaching the Wildcat guards.

In 2007-08, Golding helped guide the Wildcats to a 20-9 record, marking the program's first 20-win season since the 1998-99 campaign. The 2007-08 ACU squad qualified for the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the first time since 1998, Golding's senior season.

Golding was a four-year letterwinner at ACU from 1994-98, playing in all 108 games, and was given the Teague Point Guard Award as a senior. He shot 46 percent from the floor over his four-year career, and averaged 4.3 points and 4.2 assists per game. Upon graduating from ACU with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science in May of 1999, Golding got his first coaching job as a varsity assistant at South Garland High School, where he helped the team to back-to-back Class 5A playoff appearances.

He spent the 2001-02 season as an assistant coach at Seminole Junior College before taking the head coaching job at Sachse High School. In the program's first years at the 5A level, Golding led the team to a 15-14 record in 2002-03 and an 18-10 mark in 2003-04. Prior to returning to Abilene Christian in 2005, Golding spent the 2004-05 season as an assistant coach at Collin County Community College.

Golding and his wife, Amanda, have two sons, Cason and Chase.