Florida coach Billy Donovan, who led the Gators to back-to-back national championships this past season and then turned down a lucrative offer to become Kentucky's coach, is close to signing a seven-year contract extension with the Gators that will pay him an average of more than $3.5 million per season, sources close to the situation said Thursday.

The new contract, which Donovan hasn't yet signed, will pay the coach around $3 million the first year. The contract then escalates to more than $3.75 in guaranteed income by the end of the contract in 2013-14, a person familiar with the negotiations said.