Is Florida now a basketball school? Todd Golden's deal in same stratosphere as Billy Napier's compensation.

Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel on May 6, 2025

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s Todd Golden has cashed in on the Gators’ national basketball championship to become one of nation’s top-paid coaches, with a compensation package in the same stratosphere as football coach Billy Napier.

Golden signed a 6-year, $40.5 million deal, an average salary of $6.75 million through 2031, UF announced Tuesday. The deal, signed by Golden and athletic director Scott Stricklin Monday, signals UF’s surging investment in a program led by one of the nation’s top young coaches in a conference built on its football tradition.

Golden, 39, will be the second-highest-paid coach in the SEC behind John Calipari, who earns $8 million annually at Arkansas after he left Kentucky following the 2023-24 season.

Golden will earn $6 million in 2025-26, up from $3.6 million currently, but will receive an annual increase of $300,000 for each year of the deal. He also received a $500,000 signing bonus.

Other than Calipari, just Kansas’ Bill Self ($8.8 million), UConn’s Dan Hurley ($7.75 million), Michigan State’s Tom Izzo ($6.19 million) and UCLA’s Mick Cronin ($6.1 million) were paid more last season. All but Cronin have won a national title, but none as early in his career as Golden.

A native of Phoenix, Golden was at the New York Athletic Club Tuesday accepting the Winged Foot Award recognizing the head coaches of the men’s and women’s NCAA Division I basketball tournament champions.

UF’s 65-63 win April 7 against Houston made Golden the youngest coach to win a championship since Jimmy Valvano in 1983 at N.C. State. Golden is one of seven current coaches with a national title. Hurley, at 52, is the youngest among the rest of them.

Golden’s compensation will peak at $7.5 million in 2030-31, ultimately coming close to rivaling Napier, who signed a 7-year, $51.8 million deal in December 2021 — three months before Golden arrived from the University of San Francisco to replace Mike White.

Golden originally signed a six-year deal paying $3 million annually. After he led Florida to the 2023 NCAA Tournament and a 24-11 record, UF awarded him a two-year contract extension with a $1 million raise.

Golden’s new deal will increase his base salary from $840,000 to $2.74 million next season. He will continue to earn $1.8 million for TV/radio/PR, an annual $500,000 longevity bonus, $250,000 from Nike, $150,00 for supplemental equipment paid by UF’s University Athletic Association and a $60,000 expense account.

Golden’s travel allowance went from $40,000 to $70,000, the same as Napier.

Golden will have incentives based on his team’s success: $100,000 for an SEC regular-season championship, $100,000 for an NCAA Tournament appearance, $50,000 for an SEC Tournament Championship and $50,000 for each NCAA Tournament win. This year would have netted him $550,000.

If Golden were to leave for the NBA, he would owe UF $3 million after next season, $2 million in 2027 or 2028, $1 million in 2029 and nothing thereafter. If he were to leave for another school, he would owe $16 million after the next season, $11 million in 2027, $4 million in 2028, $3 million in 2029, $2 million in 2030 and $1 million in 2031.

If UF were to terminate Golden without cause, he would owe the school 85% of the value of the contract at the time.

Another more significant pay bump was in the offing after the Gators’ national title run on the heels of the school’s first SEC Tournament title since 2014.

Following a halftime celebration of the newly crowned champions April 12 at the Orange and Blue football game, Golden said a new deal was forthcoming.

“We’re very close to putting something together that will keep the Goldens in Gainesville for quite a while,” he said. “I think in the next week or two, we’ll get to the finish line on that.”