Ohio State adds 2 years to Tressel's contract

Mar 16, 2010 - 8:23 PM By RUSTY MILLER AP Sports Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio State has added two more years to football coach Jim Tressel's contract - and has offered him an administrative job when he retires.

The nine-year coach of the Buckeyes had his original contract, signed in 2006 and amended twice more, extended through the 2014 season on Tuesday.

"We wanted to reward Jim for his exemplary work with our football program and lock him in as our coach for an additional two years," athletic director Gene Smith said.

Tressel, who is 94-21 at Ohio State, makes about $3.5 million a year, depending on incentives and additions. He will be 62 years old when the new extension ends.

He has said that he wants to coach as long as he enjoys it and feels he is effective. The Buckeyes are coming off an 11-2 season which was capped by a victory over Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

One portion of the new contract addendum provides Tressel with a university job as an associate athletic director if he steps down as football coach on good terms before his contract ends. He would be paid $150,000 a year.

His old contract offered him a faculty position upon retirement.

A paragraph in the new addendum also provides that when Tressel retires as football coach, he will receive six press box tickets to all home Ohio State football games - for life - along with two season tickets to all home men's and women's basketball games.

In the statement announcing the new extension, Tressel said it was an honor to work at Ohio State.

Tressel, Smith, Ohio State senior vice president for business and finance William J. Shkurti and Jeff Kaplan, special assistant to Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee, all signed the contract extension this month.

Smith said Tuesday that Tressel told him he was satisfied with his salary and is aware of the financial problems facing the school's athletic department and has not sought additional compensation.

Ohio State has raised football ticket prices $7, to a face value of $70, and has added another $1 to most men's basketball tickets to offset substantial losses in the athletic department.

Smith said at the time that the ticket-price increases were needed to offset increases in operating costs and losses caused by a flagging economy. He said concessions revenue was down 9 percent and merchandise revenue another 26 percent, with payroll and other expenses rising 10 percent.

Smith said he thought the men's basketball program - ranked among the top 10 in the nation and a No. 2 seed in this week's NCAA tournament - would lose around $350,000 again this season for the second year in a row.

Tressel's extended contract is subject to the approval of the Ohio State board of trustees at its May meeting.