The move was made official Tuesday night during a special called meeting of the Hartselle Board of Education.

Golden comes from Mortimer Jordan, where he was the boys basketball coach for the last eight years. He also had stints at Thompson as the girls basketball coach and at Sylacauga as the boys coach.

Golden holds a career record of 377-246 and led Sylacauga to the Final Four in 2011. He also won two AISA state championships as the head coach of Tuscaloosa Academy.

“We are excited about the future of our basketball program under his (Golden’s) leadership.” Hartselle Athletic Director Jake Miles said. “Coach Golden has always found a way to help his players compete at a very high level vs. some of the top competition in the state. He has been successful at every stop along the way in his career and we feel the match between him and Hartselle High will be a perfect fit.”

Golden replaces Faron Key who, after 10 seasons as the head coach at Hartselle, left to become the head coach at Wallace State Community College. Key left Hartselle all the school’s all-time winningest coach.

“I am honored to be named as the varsity boys basketball coach at Hartselle High School. Hartselle has a tradition of excellence in basketball and has obviously been very successful in all sports. It is one of the top overall high schools in the state,” Golden said. “Coach Key did an outstanding job of growing the basketball program, and I am excited about continuing the success Hartselle has had in recent years.”