Brown to receive $5M a season

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas coach Mack Brown is a $5 million man, not just this season, but for the life of his contract.

With the Longhorns playing for their second BCS national championship in five years, school officials on Wednesday agreed to raise Brown's annual salary from $3 million to at least $5 million.

Brown was scheduled to receive a one-time $2 million payment early next year. University system regents agreed to make that an annual payment for the rest of his contract, which runs through 2016.

The length of the contract has not changed. Brown also will continue to receive an annual $100,000 raise already in his contract. He'll also get a $450,000 bonus if Texas (13-0) beats Alabama (13-0) on Jan. 7 in Pasadena, Calif.

Brown's counterpart in that game, Nick Saban, recently signed a one-year extension to his contract with Alabama that pays him $4.7 million annually.

"Mack is the best college football coach in America and this action recognizes him for that," Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said. "He brought new life to our program and he's done it with great integrity and class. He is who we want at Texas for as long as he is willing to serve as our head coach."

Texas has raised Brown's salary more than 500 percent since his first $750,000 deal signed in 1997. Texas has given Brown restructured deals with raises in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2007.

Texas' second-year defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has been designated as Brown's replacement when he decides to retire, but Wednesday's deal seems to make that unlikely to happen anytime soon.

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Brian Bahr/Getty ImagesMack Brown will paid at least $5 million a season going forward.

Brown is 58 and just won his second Big 12 championship. Texas won the 2005 national championship and has won at least 10 games for nine consecutive seasons, the second-longest run of 10-win seasons in NCAA history.

The Longhorns also earned their third trip to one of the lucrative BCS bowls in the last five years.

With Brown still reeling in recruiting classes that are consistently ranked among the best in the country, he'll be expected to maintain that run of success.

"Mack Brown has built one of the nation's premier football programs, and he's brought credit to our university," university President William Powers Jr. said. "He has done an outstanding job, and in the time he's been here, he has generated millions of dollars in new revenue."

According to university officials, football revenues have quadrupled under Brown, from $21.3 million in 1997 to $87.5 million in 2008. That figure is expected to grow again this year. Texas sold a school-record 84,000 season tickets this year.

Brown's salary is paid entirely with money raised by the athletic department revenues, school officials said. No state tax money is used.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press