MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Jerry Kill took over Minnesota's struggling football program and assessed that rebuilding the Gophers is going to take longer than he first anticipated.
The university agreed.
After working for more than eight months under the terms of an agreement struck when he was hired as the head coach, Kill finally signed his contract Tuesday -- getting two more years and a little bit more money than in the original framework of the deal.
His contract runs through the 2017 season and will pay him at least $1.2 million annually, half of that in base salary and the other half in supplemental compensation for appearances, endorsements and fundraising.
"We believe that Jerry Kill is the right guy. I'm convinced he is. He has brought a lot of energy to the program," athletics director Joel Maturi said.
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The timing was certainly strange, given the 1-6 record for the Gophers.
But Maturi downplayed the delay and noted that the length of the deal is the same as what basketball coach Tubby Smith got when he was hired in 2007.
"I don't mean to be disrespectful to the lawyers, but I think Joel Maturi and Jerry Kill agreed upon the parameters of this contract a long time ago," Maturi said.
