The Iowa Hawkeyes have given longtime coach Kirk Ferentz a six-year contract extension and raise through the 2025 season, the school announced Tuesday.
Ferentz, 61, will make $4.5 million per season under the new extension, which the school said runs through Jan. 31, 2026. He had been paid a little more than $4 million annually under his old agreement.
The buyout on Ferentz's previous deal, which guaranteed him 75 percent of the guaranteed pay remaining on the contract if Iowa fired him, was heavily criticized by Hawkeyes fans and others. The new contract changes the buyout structure but is still hefty, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
Under the new deal, if Iowa were to fire Ferentz for reasons other than a scandal or physical incapacity, he would be owed 100 percent of his guaranteed money in 2016 and 2017 and 75 percent of it between 2018 and 2020. For each of the years from 2021 to 2025, Iowa would owe him 50 percent of his salary. For each year between 2016 and 2020 that the Hawkeyes win at least seven games, one of the years from 2021-2026 would convert to a 100 percent buyout.
Ferentz would also receive a $1.5 million bonus for winning a national title, $375,00 for making the College Football Playoff and $250,000 for winning a Big Ten title.
"I've said it many times: I would like Kirk to retire as a Hawkeye, and this contract is a strong statement toward that commitment," Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said in a statement released by the school.
Ferentz is already tied for the current longest tenure at a school in the FBS, as he and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops were both hired in 1999. Ferentz was already signed through the 2019 season, but the school rewarded him after a 12-2 season in 2015 that included appearances in the Big Ten title game and the Rose Bowl.
"Iowa is home to me, my wife, Mary, and our five children," Ferentz, 61, said in a statement. "We moved a lot during the early years of coaching, but once we arrived in Iowa City, this quickly became our home. We appreciate and value what it is to be an Iowan and an Iowa Hawkeye."
Ferentz won Big Ten coach of the year honors last season, as well as national coach of the year recognition from several organizations.
The Hawkeyes opened the 2016 season with a 45-21 win over Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.
Ferentz will surpass Hayden Fry, whom he worked with for years as an assistant, as the longest-tenured coach in Iowa history if he stays through the end of his new deal. Fry coached for 20 seasons at Iowa.
"There were two great coaches here, [Ferentz] and [Hayden] Fry," linebacker Josey Jewell said. "He's an amazing coach, an amazing guy to look up to. He does all the small things right."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.