No raise but bigger bonuses for Georgia football coach Mark Richt

photo Georgia coach Mark Richt smiles during a news conference in Atlanta. Richt has agreed to a new five-year contract that will carry him through the 2016 season.

The three-year contract extension for Georgia football coach Mark Richt will not include a salary increase but will contain larger performance-based bonuses.

During Thursday's meeting of the Georgia Athletic Association board of directors in Greensboro, Ga., athletic director Greg McGarity said Richt's salary will remain at $2.81 million annually. The contract, which is expected to be finalized soon, will include bonuses doubling from the current $475,000 maximum to $950,000.

Richt now will get $150,000 for reaching the Southeastern Conference championship game, $50,000 for winning the SEC title, $500,000 for a national championship and $200,000 for reaching a BCS bowl. All those figures are twice his current totals.

The lack of a salary increase will keep Richt sixth among league coaches, trailing Alabama's Nick Saban ($5.32 million), LSU's Les Miles ($3.86 million), Auburn's Gene Chizik ($3.5 million), South Carolina's Steve Spurrier ($3.3 million) and Florida's Will Muschamp ($3.22 million). Richt's last pay raise occurred in March 2008.

When asked by reporters why the negotiations taken so long, McGarity said, "I don't know. Mark and I have been on the same page as far as all the major points of it for months."

Also yet to be finalized is a new contract for Bulldogs defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who is expected to receive a raise from his $750,000 annual salary.

A 2013 fiscal year budget of $92,130,725 was approved, as were three facility-related projects. Those include $1.006 million to upgrade scoreboards at the baseball, softball and soccer facilities, $1.35 million for renovations at Foley Field and $375,000 for renovations at Gate 10 of Sanford Stadium.

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