The UH System Board of Regents unanimously approved contract extensions for Chancellor and UH President Renu Khator and head football coach Kevin Sumlin at a special session Friday.
Khator received a two-year extension that keeps her at UH through 2013. Her base salary will remain $425,000.
Sumlin, who is 18-9 in two seasons at UH, was awarded a new six-year deal that retains his services through 2015. The contract, which was announced last Monday, includes $6.8 million in guaranteed compensation.
“Retention is very important,” Board of Regents Chairman Welcome Wilson Sr. said. “The coach has been successful in the two years that he has been here, and we want to make sure we are able to retain him.”
Wilson said that the last two football seasons were impressive and that the Board came to the conclusion that Sumlin “deserved a substantial adjustment in compensation.”
Sumlin, who made $700,000 in 2009, is now the third-highest paid coach in Conference USA behind Southern Methodist’s June Jones ($2 million) and Central Florida’s George O’Leary ($1.15 million).
“He is a good coach, a great person, and we are delighted that we can extend his contract,” Khator said.
Wilson added that Sumlin’s method of emphasizing academic progress is part of the UH tradition.
“The University of Houston is better than average in terms of the graduation rate and the grades of our athletes,” Wilson said. “We have a tradition to be proud of, and it’s only going to get bigger and better under Sumlin.”
Wilson had similar praise for Khator.
“After she had been here one year, the Board of Regents was extremely pleased with her performance. She had electrified the campus,” Wilson said. “She is known throughout the world in academic circles. She is considered a superstar. The Board of Regents considers her a superstar.
“She has really made a great contribution to the University of Houston.”
Wilson said that Khator requested that she not receive a raise until pay increases are granted to the rest of the faculty.
Wilson, however, said that Khator deserves a raise.
“I personally feel that a significant salary increase is overdue, but — at her request — we are not considering a raise at this time,” Wilson said in a release.