Todd Golden Has NBA Buyout Clauses in New Florida Contract After National Title Win

Todd Golden's new contract with Florida includes an escape route in the event he's courted by an NBA team.

According to Adam Luckett of Kentucky Sports Radio, Golden has a $3 million buyout fee if he's hired by an NBA team during the 2025-26 academic year. That number drops to $2 million for each of the next two years and then $1 million in 2028-29.

By contrast, Golden moving to another college program would cost between $11 million and $16 million.

The coach played down what that buyout symbolizes in the short term but acknowledged he wanted to have some flexibility based on what doors could open later on.

"I think it's more of just kind of keeping that opportunity potentially available down the road," Golden said. "That's not necessarily something that I'm thinking about right now a whole lot. But, you know, these contracts, it's like real-life stuff, right? So you gotta make sure that you give yourself a little bit of opportunity that way."

The Gators are 76-33 in Golden's three seasons, and he put together a 57-36 record in three years at San Francisco before that. At 39, he has a bright future ahead.

Florida watched Billy Donovan twice bolt Gainesville. He had a quick change of heart after accepting the Orlando Magic job in 2007 before leaving for good in 2015.

Since then, the college coaching landscape has only become more demanding thanks to the transfer portal. Being presented with a new challenge, Golden might one day want to leave the year-round recruiting grind behind with the NBA.

It's probably a more lucrative pathway too. Dan Hurley turned down an extra $20 million when he signed a $50 million extension with UConn and spurned the Los Angeles Lakers.

Golden may remain perfectly content at Florida for the foreseeable future. His NBA buyout is likely to become a bigger storyline as the figure gets smaller and smaller, though.