Report: Donovan officially signs contract with Florida

Gainesville, FL (Sports Network) - Billy Donovan reportedly signed his six- year, $21 million contract Friday, after agreeing to the extension 16 months ago following a bizarre set of events where Donovan was briefly the coach of the NBA's Orlando Magic.

Florida basketball spokesman Fred Demarest confirmed the signing to the Orlando Sentinel, with the contract set to pay Donovan $3.5 million per year through the 2012-13 season. He was paid by those terms last season despite never actually signing the deal, according to Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley.

Donovan signed a lucrative five-year deal to coach the Magic in June 2007 but regretted the decision and spent the next several days trying to get out of his contract. The Magic got assurance that Donovan would not coach another NBA team for the next five years before breaking the contract. The Gators announced several days later that Donovan had agreed to an extension, which was finally signed Friday.

In Gainesville, Donovan has a 285-115 mark over 12 seasons, having led the Gators to national championship titles in 2006 and 2007 and a championship game appearance in 2000.

Prior to the Orlando Magic debacle, Donovan turned down an offer to become the head coach at the University of Kentucky. Donovan also coached at Marshall for two seasons prior to joining the Gators.

Last updated: October 3, 2008 at 8:02 PM