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South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier will earn $800,000 more next season after taking the Gamecocks to their first Southeastern Conference title game.
South Carolina's head ball coach received a significant raise in a revamped contract approved by the school's board of trustees Friday. Spurrier made $2 million in 2010, when the Gamecocks won the SEC Eastern Division title and lost to Auburn in the league's title game. He will make $2.8 million next fall.
South Carolina athletic director Eric Hyman said the move was a reward for what Spurrier has built with the Gamecocks during his first six seasons.
''I think he recognizes the job that he's done,'' Hyman said. ''I think since he's been the head football coach here he has achieved a lot of firsts.''
Spurrier, who turns 66 on Wednesday, did not ask for a contract extension in a deal that runs through 2013.
''Don't read too much into that,'' the athletic director said.
The board also approved a three-year contract extension and $25,000 raise for women's basketball coach Dawn Staley, who was a candidate to take over her alma mater at Virginia after Debbie Ryan stepped down.
Spurrier went 9-5 with South Carolina in a milestone season. The Gamecocks knocked off No. 1 Alabama 35-21, their first win over a top-ranked team, and won at Florida's Swamp for the first time ever to capture the SEC East.
South Carolina closed the regular season with a second straight victory over rival Clemson, something it hadn't achieved in 40 years.
''It's just been remarkable, the run that South Carolina football has had, and that's a direct reflection on (Spurrier) and his coaching staff,'' Hyman said.
Spurrier's total salary package includes $257,000 in base salary, $250,000 in deferred compensation, and nearly $2.3 million in outside income from television and radio, commercial endorsements, athletic shoes, equipment and coaching apparel.
Spurrier's package rises to $2.875 million in 2012 and $2.95 million in the deal's final year of 2013.
Spurrier also had added a bonus of $100,000 for reaching the Capital One, Cotton and Chick-fil-A bowls. The Gamecocks lost to Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl this past New Year's Eve.
''There was never any big deal about it, to tell you the truth,'' Spurrier said Thursday after his final practice of the spring. ''We were just trying to get in line with all the other SEC schools.''
Trustees also approved the first phase of a project to revamp South Carolina's practice fields across from Williams-Brice Stadium. Plans call for new surfacing, lighting and drainage among other things.
Staley just concluded her third season rebuilding the Gamecocks, who were 17-14 and won a game in the SEC tournament for the first time since 2007.
Staley's total salary increases to $675,000 a year in a deal that keeps her at South Carolina through 2016. She also got a bonus of 1 percent of that total in any year she brings in a top 10 recruiting class as determined by reputable recruiting services.
Staley also had an incentive added where the final two contractual payments of $75,000 back to South Carolina toward her buyout from Temple in 2008 would be waived if she remains coach through March 31 of the next two years.
Hyman said Staley has improved the team's stature. ''We're on the cusp of some wonderful things here in women's basketball,'' he said.
