UT extends contract of athletic director

7/27/2007

University of Toledo Athletic Director Mike O Brien will remain at the school at least through 2010, UT President Lloyd Jacobs said today.

The announcement came during a town hall meeting this afternoon with the UT athletic department staff in Savage Hall. Mr. O Brien s current contract will be extended and he will receive a pay increase, a university spokesman confirmed, although details were not available this afternoon.

Mr. O Brien s contract was to expire June 30, 2008. He currently is paid a base salary of $160,199.

The athletic department has been the focus of an internal investigation by the university and in reports by The Blade that have revealed questionable spending practices, potential abuses of barter agreements, and trips for coaches and their wives paid for by UT, while the department was facing a projected $2 million deficit.

Mr. O Brien came under scrutiny for the firing of a high-ranking UT athletic official who has since been rehired, and his department is the subject of an FBI investigation into an alleged point-shaving scandal with the football and men s basketball teams.

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