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05/06 10:39 CDT Florida raises basketball coach Todd Golden's salary to $6M
annually after national title
Florida raises basketball coach Todd Golden's salary to $6M annually after
national title
By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) --- Florida basketball coach Todd Golden has signed a
contract extension that raises his annual salary to $6 million, a lucrative
bump nearly a month after the Gators won the national championship.
Golden inked a six-year, $40.5 million extension Tuesday night, adding a year
to his current deal and putting him under contract through the 2030-31 season.
He signed a two-year extension in March 2024 that increased his average salary
to $4.1 million annually.
His latest raise is a significant commitment from Florida and puts Golden
nearly on par with football coach Billy Napier, who is scheduled to make $7.4
million in 2025.
Golden's deal pays $6 million a year (beginning April 16, 2025), with a
$300,000 pay hike every year after.
The new money makes the 39-year-old Golden the second-highest-paid basketball
coach in the Southeastern Conference behind Arkansas' John Calipari, who earns
$8 million annually. Golden, once an assistant under Bruce Pearl at Auburn who
got his first head coaching job at San Francisco in 2019, previously ranked
12th out of 16 coaches in the league.
He now jumps to fifth among the seven active coaches with national titles,
behind Bill Self of Kansas, Calipari, UConn's Dan Hurley and Michigan State's
Tom Izzo.
Golden's new deal is nearly fully guaranteed. Florida would owe him 85% of the
remaining value if the school fired him without cause at any point.
Golden's buyout to leave Gainesville starts at $16 million next season and
drops annually: $11 million in 2026-27; $4 million in 2027-28; $3 million in
2028-29; $2 million in 2029-30; and $1 million in 2030-31.
However, Golden can leave for the NBA at a much lower price. His NBA buyout
begins at $3 million next season and drops to $2 million (2026-28) and then $1
million in 2028-29.
Included in Golden's annual compensation is a $500,000 signing bonus, a
$500,000 annual longevity incentive and a $60,000 annual expense account. In
addition to that, he gets $70,000 annually in travel allowance for using the
university athletic association's plane and other fringe benefits valued at
$62,000.
He would get a $100,000 bonus for winning the SEC regular-season championship,
a $50,000 bonus for winning the SEC Tournament, a $100,000 bonus for making the
NCAA Tournament and a $50,000 bonus for every NCAA Tournament victory.
With Golden at the helm for his third season in Gainesville, the Gators
finished 36-4 and beat Houston to clinch the program's third national title.
They won their final 12 games, including four in the NCAA Tournament in
come-from-behind fashion.
Florida's style of play under Golden has drawn rave reviews, leading to
sellouts in eight of the team's last 10 home games. Florida averaged 84.8
points a game this season after setting the program record (85.6) during the
2023-24 campaign.
Golden became the third coach this century to win a national title within his
first three seasons on the job, joining North Carolina's Roy Williams (2005)
and UConn's Kevin Ollie (2014). Williams and Ollie accomplished the feat in
their second seasons.
Golden has a modest rebuild on his hands now. Leading scorer Walter Clayton,
the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, is headed to the NBA along with
fellow guards Alijah Martin and Will Richard. Forwards Alex Condon and Rueben
Chinyelu are going through the NBA draft process with the potential to stay in
school and return for next season.
Backup guard Denzel Aberdeen (Kentucky) and backup forward Sam Alexis (Indiana)
transferred, and assistant coaches Kevin Hovde (Columbia) and John Andrzejek
(Campbell) took head coaching jobs.
Golden signed two guards out of the transfer portal --- Princeton's Xaivian Lee
and Ohio's AJ Brown --- and have swingman CJ Ingram and guard Alex Lloyd
joining the team as incoming freshmen.
___
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