Rick Pitino agrees to contract extension to stay at Louisville through 2022

University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich announced Tuesday afternoon that men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him at U of L through 2022.

“I thought it would have been an absolute crime if he retired,” Jurich said. “It would have been cheating the game of basketball. It wouldn’t be cheating the university because he’s already given us so much. There wouldn’t be an arena without coach.”

As recently as last December, Pitino had stated that he planned to retire when his previous contract expired at the end of the 2016-17 season. That, apparently, is no longer the case.

“I don’t know if I could live without basketball,” Pitino said. “Even with broadcasting, there aren’t those highs and lows that every coach lives for.”

Pitino’s base salary will remain at $3.9 million. The only major difference included in the extension is a $600,000 retention bonus that will be paid every other year beginning in 2014.

The contract also includes $200,000 in additional incentives. Pitino has the chance to receive $50,000 for a Big East regular season or tournament title, $50,000 for a program APR rating of 950 or above, and $100,000 if he is named the Associated Press Coach of the Year.

“There’s never a bad minute working at this place,” Pitino said. “The people are awesome, the fans are awesome; it’s just an awesome, awesome place. I’m not sure I could survive without this university and this program.

“I was born a New Yorker, I want to die a Kentuckian.”