Aggies AD: Coach to get extension, raise

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DALLAS -- Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione will get a contract extension and a raise after leading the Aggies to the Cotton Bowl in his second season.

Athletic director Bill Byrne said Saturday that Franchione's contract, currently worth $1.7 million annually through 2010, was being restructured. He didn't release the details.

"He's done a great job with the talent we have and I look forward to a great future at Texas A&M," Byrne said before the Aggies (7-5) finished their season with a 38-7 loss to Tennessee. "We want to make sure Dennis Franchione continues to coach our football team."

The deal is expected to be completed this month. Byrne would only say that Franchione would remain among the best-paid coaches in the country.

"It certainly provides continuity and patience for what we're trying to do, and understanding," Franchione said. "This is where we want to finish our coaching career, and where (wife) Kim and I want to be."

The Cotton Bowl was Texas A&M's first New Year's Day game in six years. The Aggies were 4-8 last season.

Texas coach Mack Brown agreed this week to a 10-year contract worth more than $25 million. The Longhorns played Michigan in the Rose Bowl, their first Bowl Championship Series game.

Byrne said a restructured contract for Franchione had been discussed before Brown got his new deal.

"We always analyze our compensation at the end of every year," Byrne said. "This is something that actually President (Robert) Gates and I talked about sometime in November."

Texas A&M started this season with a 41-21 loss at Utah, then won six straight games before losing three of its last four. The Aggies still got their first Cotton Bowl berth since 1998, after Texas got into the BCS.

Franchione spent six years at New Mexico (1992-97). He led the Lobos to three winning seasons, a division title in the Western Athletic Conference and the school's first bowl game in 36 years.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press

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