Todd Golden receives $50,000 bonus for Florida winning national championship

Todd Golden and the Florida Gators are officially on top of the college basketball world. They defeated Houston in an absolute classic in the 2025 NCAA National Championship Game, prevailing 65-63. Not only did Golden bring home the third national championship in Gator basketball history, but he got a decent payday.

According to Steve Berkowitz of USA Today, Golden got a $50,000 bonus for winning the national championship. That gives him a grand total of $175,000 in bonuses for the year. It was a historic year for the Gator basketball program in many ways, and he’ll get to enjoy it with a little bit of extra cash.

Following the big win, Golden spoke with Tracy Wolfson of CBS on the court. The Gators were down by 12 points at one point. Despite the adversity, the Florida head coach never wavered in his team’s ability to pull out the big win.

“We did what we did all year. We stayed the course. We have the best backcourt in America. I think we have the best front court in America. And like we’ve done all year, we made plays when we needed them most,” Golden explained.

“We guarded our butts off down the stretch! Made every 50-50 winning play. The Gators are natty baby! We got the natty baby! Let’s goooo!” Golden screamed in jubilation. Florida captured the school’s first men’s basketball national championship since 2007. And the team has every right to celebrate into the late hours of the morning on Monday night.

Clearly, the future is bright for the Gators and their head coach. Todd Golden became the youngest head coach to win the men’s national title since Jim Valvano did it in 1983.

Claiming the national championship in basketball is never easy, especially in a season like this one when there were so many great teams. And the 2025 NCAA Tournament saw some absolute classics. Florida got great performances from multiple players in the win on Monday.

Big man Alex Condon had 12 points, seven rebounds, and four steals in 28 minutes. Will Richard stepped up in the biggest of ways, carrying the Gator offensive attack in the first half. Richard scored 14 of Florida’s 28 points in the first half. He finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Walter Clayton, Jr. was named Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four. He didn’t have his best stuff on Monday evening, but he made some big plays when his team needed them. Clayton finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and seven assists.

The Houston defense did an exceptional job on him, making life extremely difficult for him much of the night. The Cougars battled valiantly and delivered college basketball fans an excellent game on the biggest of stages. While they came up just short, there’s plenty for them to be proud of in an absolutely spectacular season.

Houston got 19 points from LJ Cryer. He was their leading scorer and by a significant margin. He had 19 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a block. Big man J’Wan Roberts finished with eight points and eight rebounds in the loss.

The national championship caps off what was an absolutely magical season for the Florida Gators. They finish with a 35-4 overall record, an SEC Tournament Championship, and a national championship. They only had four losses all season long: Kentucky (106-100), Missouri (83-82), Tennessee (64-44), and Georgia (88-83).