Colleges

Meyer's new deal short of Donovan's

By BY ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published June 8, 2007

GAINESVILLE - Florida football coach Urban Meyer agreed to a six-year contract extension that will pay him about $3.25-million annually, athletic director Jeremy Foley said Thursday.

The deal represents a raise of about $1.2-million over what Meyer was scheduled to receive this year and makes him the third-highest-paid college football coach behind Alabama's Nick Saban ($4-million annually) and Notre Dame's Charlie Weis ($3.3-million).

And Florida came to terms with basketball coach Billy Donovan, who agreed to a six-year deal worth about $3.5-million annually, making him college basketball's highest-paid coach ahead of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina's Roy Williams, both at $3-million.

Meyer and Donovan are the first $3-million-plus college football-basketball coaching duo in history. Both contracts have a mutual option for a seventh year.

Foley dismissed the notion that because Florida has a long and rich history as a football school, he couldn't pay Donovan more than Meyer.

"From Day 1 those two negotiations were separate, " he said. "Certainly Billy Donovan's circumstance is a competitive offer from another institution (Kentucky) and a competitive offer from a professional basketball organization. So to sit here and say, well, you can't do this for one, that wouldn't be fair. In Urban's world, there's a set of circumstances for what national championship coaches get paid and what the highest-paid coaches get paid. You have to treat either one fairly in the world they compete in."

Donovan is about to begin his 12th season at Florida and has won two national titles and three consecutive SEC tournament championships - the only three in school history. Meyer has won one SEC title and one national title in two seasons at Florida.

[Last modified June 8, 2007, 01:27:16]