ARDMORE — When University of Oklahoma sports have successful seasons, fans and even the Regents tend to notice.

The Oklahoma Regents approved extensions, deferred compensation, base salary and/or compensation increases for six head coaches Wednesday. These coaches include Sherri Coale (women’s basketball), Jack Spates (wrestling), Mark Williams (men’s gymnastics), Sunny Golloway (baseball), Patty Gasso (softball) and James Ragan (men’s golf).

Joe Castiglione, OU director of athletics, said the coaches’ performances merited the pay increases and extensions.

“These are contracts that are multi-year that reflect the appreciation, respect and high performance of these coaches,” Castiglione said. “Each of these coaches had outstanding years and we are very fortunate to have all of them in our Sooner family.”

Achievements during the past year for these sports include a third straight national championship for gymnastics, a third-place NCAA tournament finish for the wrestling team, a Big 12 regular-season and tournament championship, as well as a Sweet Sixteen appearance for the women’s basketball team, postseason appearances for both the baseball and softball teams and a first-ever Big 12 championship for the men’s golf team.

OU president David Boren said OU has a unique situation with its athletic department, where athletics contributes close to $1 million to academics. He said based on the support athletics gives the university, OU must stay competitive with coaching.

“We cannot control the market of sports,” Boren said. “We want to be sure we keep with the market and keep the best. We want to keep our programs very strong.”

Boren said the salary increases reflect both the market and team performances. The following is a list of the approved changes to coaching contracts by the Regents:

• Sherri Coale, women’s basketball: $50,000 personal service income increase ($290,000 to $340,000); $200,000 additional deferred compensation if she stays through the end of her contract; One-year contract extension (through July 1, 2011)

• Patty Gasso, softball: $4,000 base salary increase ($106,100 to $110,100); $2,000 personal service income increase ($10,000 to $12,000); $40,000 additional deferred compensation if she stays through the end of her contract; three-year contract extension (through July 1, 2010)

• Sunny Golloway, baseball: $4,000 base salary increase ($106,000 to $110,000); $10,000 personal service income increase ($60,000 to $70,000); one-year contract extension (through July 1, 2010)

• James Ragan, men’s golf: $5,000 base salary increase ($85,300 to $90,300); $5,000 personal service income increase ($13,000 to $18,000); four-year contract extension (through July 1, 2010)

• Jack Spates, wrestling: $7,200 base salary increase ($85,300 to $92,500); $30,000 additional deferred compensation if Spates stays through the end of his contract; three-year contract extension (through July 1, 2009)

• Mark Williams, men’s gymnastics: $7,000 base salary increase ($78,000 to $85,000); two-year contract extension (through July 1, 2008)

Althea Peterson366-3539apeterson@normantranscript.com