After being named SEC Coach of the Year, leading the women's basketball team to its first SEC title in 20 years and to the NCAA tournament, head coach Nell Fortner has signed a contract extension.
Fortner, who has been with Auburn since 2004, signed the six-season extension April 17. Athletic Director Jay Jacobs said the extension will pay her a minimum of
$570,000 annually.
"I'm very appreciative of Jay Jacobs for his support and vision of women's basketball at Auburn," Fortner said. "The past five years have been phenomenal. We've experienced a tremendous amount of growth and had an outpouring of support from the Auburn family, with great crowds and a lot of excitement about Auburn women's basketball. We have a tremendous staff, talented and dedicated student-athletes, a great fan base and a new arena set to open in 2010, which makes the future of this program very bright."
The extension includes incentives that were in her original contract, such as bonuses for meeting certain benchmarks. Fortner's base salary will be $226,800, and the remainder of her pay will come from endorsements from radio and television.
"We're extremely pleased with the success of our women's basketball program under Nell Fortner," Jacobs said. "She has rebuilt this program, bringing it to national prominence again with an exciting brand of basketball. Under Nell's leadership, her student-athletes have represented Auburn with the highest regard in the community, on the playing court and in the classroom. We look forward to the future of the program under Nell's direction."
Fortner has a 101-57 record at Auburn and under her direction, the program has earned a spot at the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons.
"I love Auburn and I'm very excited to know that I am going to be here a long, long time," Fortner said.
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