Florida men's basketball coach Todd Golden opened up about how he felt after his team beat his mentor Bruce Pearl's Auburn in the Final Four. The Gators defeated the Tigers 79-73 to reach the national championship final.In an interview with CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein, which was shared on X (formerly Twitter), Golden described the moment he walked up to shake his former boss's hand after the win."There were a lot of range of emotions in that game, to say the least," Golden said in the clip shared on Monday. "You know, first time being in a situation like that, going against someone that I love, a mentor. Someone that treated me like a son over the course of my life, my career and he had a dang good team as well.""And so, we're battling, going back and forth in a situation that I don't think that either of us would imagine could happen going back six or seven years ago when we worked together at Auburn. "Having the opportunity to beat them to advance and then walking on the court to see coach in a situation where he was obviously disappointed was tough and it took away some of the joy we had in advancing," the Gators coach said.Golden added that he knew Pearl was proud of him and his team and the Tigers coach was happy to lose to the Gators instead of another team. Pearl gave Golden his first opportunity as a director of basketball operations at Auburn in 2014 and then an assistant coach. The two developed a close bond over the years, with Golden often crediting Pearl for boosting his career.Todd Golden signs new deal with FloridaAfter leading Florida men's basketball to national championship title, coach Todd Golden agreed to a new six-year deal with Florida through the 2030-31 season. The new contract is reportedly worth just over $40 million, making Golden one of the highest-paid coaches in college basketball.Golden will earn approximately $6 million in the 2025-26 season. The 39-year-old joined the Gators from San Francisco ahead of the 2022-23 season. Under his leadership, Florida went 36-4 in 2024-25, winning their final 12 games of the season and all three of its SEC tournament games.The Gators entered the 2025 NCAA Tournament as the no. 1 seed beat two-time defending champions UConn to advance to the Sweet 16. After beating Texas Tech in the Elite Eight and Auburn in the Final Four, Florida beat Houston 65-63 to win the program's first national championship title since 2007.