Florida and men’s basketball coach Todd Golden have agreed to a six-year, $40.5 million contract extension to keep him in Gainesville long term, just one month after the Gators cut down the nets for the program’s third national title.
The deal runs through March 2031.
Last month, the 39-year-old Golden helped Florida to its first national title since 2007 and became the youngest coach in more than four decades to lead his team to a national championship. Before making its deep run into April, Golden’s squad won the SEC tournament and claimed a No. 1 seed in March Madness.
“My family and I love being here,” Golden said after a national title celebration during the spring football game on April 12. “Obviously it was a big change for us coming from the West Coast, not knowing a lot of people here. But in three short years, we’ve been able to meet a lot of great people and get comfortable. Florida’s a place that we can win national championships, as we just proved.”
Golden holds a 76-33 record at Florida, including a 36-4 mark in 2024-25.
There were questions about Golden’s future at Florida during this past season. The university concluded a four-month Title IX investigation into allegations by multiple women of sexual harassment/exploitation, stalking and cyberstalking. In January, Florida’s interim Title IX coordinator wrote that investigators found “no evidence” of wrongdoing by Golden; the allegations were dismissed without issuing a formal report.
His new deal, which averages $6.75 million per year, places him among the highest-paid coaches in the country. The only coaches who made more last season, according to USA Today’s database, were Kansas’ Bill Self, Arkansas’ John Calipari and UConn’s Dan Hurley.
“Todd has done an incredible job getting Florida men’s basketball back where it belongs,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in a news release. “We believed in his vision, his competitive nature and his modern approach to the game back in 2022, and he has validated that belief in a relatively short time and helped create memories of a lifetime for another generation of Gator fans.”
Golden’s new deal includes a large buyout. If Golden is fired without cause, Florida will owe him 85 percent of what’s left on the deal. He would owe the Gators $16 million if he left this year, with that buyout decreasing to $4 million after the 2026-2027 season. If Golden left for an NBA job, his buyout starts at $3 million and drops by $1 million annually.
Florida’s championship run established Golden as a marquee name in a sport transitioning from one generation of coaches to the next. Golden is one of only six active coaches (along with Dan Hurley, Bill Self, Scott Drew, Rick Pitino and John Calipari) to win a national championship. It also boosted Florida’s standing in the industry. Traditionally one of the best all-around athletic departments in the country, Florida spent most of the previous 15 years lacking major success in its two most lucrative sports, football and men’s basketball. Golden changed that, and the school rewarded him with a new contract.
A former player at Saint Mary’s, Golden served as an assistant coach at Columbia (2012-14), Auburn (2014-16, under Bruce Pearl) and San Francisco (2016-19) before he was elevated to the head-coaching role at San Francisco in 2019. San Francisco made an NCAA Tournament appearance in Golden’s third season in 2022, the program’s first since 1998. That run springboarded him to Florida, where he replaced current Georgia coach Mike White.
The Gators have improved their win total in each of Golden’s three seasons. The Gators lost in the first round of the NIT in his first year, then won 11 SEC games before losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in his second. Florida reached No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll five times this season, and entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed after defeating Tennessee in the conference title game.
Florida defeated Houston 65-63 in the national championship after coming back from a 12-point deficit in the second half.
(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
