University of Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery has signed a new contract to continue as the Hawkeye head basketball coach for the foreseeable future.

The seven-year agreement guarantees McCaffery a minimum average of $1.66 million annually over the length of the contract, beginning with a base salary of $1.3 million in 2012-13. The base salary moves McCaffery to the upper half of the Big Ten Conference in comparison to his colleagues.

McCaffery’s average compensation for the full term of the new contract could climb to $1.86 million per year should next year’s UI men’s basketball team earn a position in the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. As was the case with his previous contract, McCaffery can also earn additional compensation annually by achieving certain competitive and academic benchmarks.

In his first two years at Iowa McCaffery has brought enthusiasm and excitement back to the Hawkeye basketball program. McCaffery coached the Hawkeyes to 18 wins and an NIT bid in 2012, as Iowa improved by seven wins from 2011 to 2012. Additionally, McCaffery guided Iowa to four more Big Ten victories in 2012 than the previous season, which is the best improvement for an Iowa squad since 1994 to 1995.

Iowa’s NIT bid was its first postseason action since 2006 and after beating Dayton 84-75, the win was the program’s first in the postseason since 2003. Over 13,000 energized Hawkeye fans bought tickets on one-days-notice for the NIT home game, which was the highest attended NIT game of 2012.

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