Gainesville, Fla ? Florida agreed Tuesday to a six-year contract with coach Billy Donovan worth about $1.7 million annually, another step to ensure he finishes his college coaching career with the Gators.

The contract, which hasn’t been signed, will keep Donovan as the second-highest paid coach in the Southeastern Conference, below only Tubby Smith. It gives him about a $500,000 raise and has all the apparel, TV and radio incentives that were in the old deal.

At 38, Donovan is thought to covet an NBA job someday, and has widely been considered a prime candidate to coach at Kentucky, where he worked as Rick Pitino’s assistant, should Smith step aside.

“The NBA, nobody can control,” athletic director Jeremy Foley said, “but we can control what happens in college. He has made great inroads here, and we want to make it clear this is where he needs to be.”

The contract replaces an earlier deal that had four years remaining. Foley said it was time to tear the old one up and start over, because it had been reworked so many times to give him extensions and raises.