Louisville extends Rick Pitino's contract to 2025-26 season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Louisville has extended coach Rick Pitino's contract four years through the 2025-26 season with his base salary increasing from $4.48 million next season to $5.093 million annually after that.

Pitino will also earn a $7.5 million retention bonus to be paid incrementally every three years, starting with $750,000 in July 1, 2017, and increasing to $2.25 million. The 2013 Hall of Fame inductee had seven years remaining on his current contract.

Pitino said during a Tuesday news conference that ''I never looked at this as a job; I looked at it as a privilege.''

The Cardinals are coming off their fifth NCAA Tournament regional final appearance in eight years, a stretch that has included the 2012 Final Four and the school's third national championship the following year.

Pitino, 62, is the first coach to win NCAA titles at two schools, having previously won with Kentucky in 1996. He is 368-126 in 14 seasons at Louisville and 722-254 in 30 seasons overall.