Todd Golden has NBA buyout included in new contract with Florida

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Florida-Gators-Todd-Golden — Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden holds up the trophy after winning the national championship game of the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. (Bob Donnan-Imagn Images)

No one in college basketball had a better year than Florida head coach Todd Golden. The 39-year-old won a national championship in year three and became a household name in the sport. Florida responded by giving him a hefty raise.

That pay bump also included an out that could allow him to leave Gainesville fairly easy if the NBA comes calling.

On May 5, Golden received a six-year, $40.5 million deal that will pay the coaching $6.75 million per year. The youngest coach to win a national title is now the fourth-highest paid coach in the sport. This contract runs through the 2030-31 season. The buyout if Golden leaves for another college basketball job ranges from $11 million to $16 million over the next two seasons. However, it’s different if a NBA team comes calling.

Todd Golden’s NBA buyout is only $3 million in 2025-26, $2 million for from 2026-27 and 2027-28, and $1 million in 2028-29. If a NBA team wants to hire Golden it will probably happen pretty easily.

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“I think it’s more of just kind of keeping that opportunity potentially available down the road. That’s not necessarily something that I’m thinking about right now a whole lot,” Golden said about the NBA buyout. “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.”

During Kentucky’s head coach search that ultimately ended with Mark Pope returning to Lexington after Scott Drew and Dan Hurley turned down athletic director Mitch Barnhart, we all started to learn about the big coaching buyouts in college basketball. Schools are locking coaches up long-term and making it almost impossible for college teams to hire them away. That has helped the SEC become the best conference in the sport. Now another coach in the league isn’t leaving — unless the NBA comes calling.

The Los Angeles Lakers recently tried to hire Hurley. Expect some more franchises to look into the college coaching market sooner rather than later. Todd Golden could be at the top of that list.