Washington's Lorenzo Romar agrees to 10-year contract extension | Husky basketball

Lorenzo Romar, who wants to finish his coaching career at Washington, agreed to a 10-year contract extension that will keep him with the Huskies men's basketball team until 2020.

His new deal will pay him $1.7 million per year, not including bonuses.

The contract exceeds the extension Romar, 51, signed in 2007 that guaranteed $1.3 million a year, not including incentives.

Athletic director Scott Woodward said contract talks between Romar and Washington took minutes to complete, and he described the agreement as "pretty straightforward."

"He said, 'I want to be here and I want to end my career here,' " Woodward said of Romar. "He said, 'I don't want to be coaching when I'm well into my 60s, and this might be my final contract,' and I said, 'Let's get it done.' So we decided to get a deal done."

Romar's contract puts him in the neighborhood of the Pac-10's top-paid basketball coaches.

Arizona's Sean Miller and UCLA's Ben Howland reportedly earn $2 million per year, and California's Mike Montgomery is believed to earn $1.6 million a year.

Romar's contract guarantees the school will review his deal every two years "to make sure we're paying market and he's doing what he's set out to do and we're compensating him according to his accomplishments," Woodward said.

Washington officials were poised to redo Romar's deal after the 2008-09 Huskies won the first outright Pac-10 title in program history, but the timing wasn't right.

"That was a huge accomplishment, but given this economy, (I said) 'Right now let's wait until it says in your contract that we'll talk about it,' " Woodward said. "We had been talking about rewarding him and doing what we thought was the right thing to do in this market and in this climate and this was kind of a culmination of his past two year's worth of work, which is what we were reviewing.

"I think he gets an A-plus — winning the Pac-10 championship, winning the Pac-10 tournament and going to the Sweet 16."

In eight seasons, Romar has led the Huskies to a 171-91 record, five NCAA tournament appearances and three Sweet 16 berths.

Romar, who played two seasons at Washington in 1978-80, ranks third all-time in victories among UW coaches behind Hec Edmundson and Marv Harshman.

"I could not be more excited," Romar said in a statement released by the school. "I have always said this is where I wanted to be.

"It is so great to see President Mark Emmert, Scott Woodward and the rest of the administration step up and make it clear they want us to be here. That is really important."

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com