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Florida’s Donovan still hasn’t signed contract

More than a year after flirting with NBA, coach yet to ink extension

Image: Billy Donovan
Doug Benc / Getty Images
Billy Donovan was paid $3.5 million last season, according to a report.
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NBCSports.com news services
updated 12:44 a.m. ET Sept. 17, 2008

More than a year after flirting with the Orlando Magic of the NBA, University of Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan has yet to sign his contract with the school, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel.

It was June of 2007 when Donovan actually signed a contract to coach the Magic. He later backed out, and Florida announced it had retained its coach with a six-year, $21 million extension. That deal has yet to be signed.

Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley told the Sentinel that the sides were "very close" to an agreement. The current deal Donovan is working under dates to 2003, and will pay him $1.7 million a year through April 15, 2009, according to the Sentinel.

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But school spokesman Fred Demarest told the paper that Donovan was paid $3.5 million last season.

“A coach hasn’t agreed to an extension until it’s executed,” Gary O’Hagan, a sports agent with International Management Group, told the paper. “Reasons for lag time in a contract can be anything, really. It could be something of greater importance than new money.”

Donovan is 43 and has a record of 285-115, including consecutive national titles in 2006 and 2007.

Foley told the Sentinel that the delay was not a big deal. “It takes time on the front end of things, but there are no issues here,” Foley said. “It will get done. Billy Donovan is coaching the University of Florida and the university is paying him.”

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