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A few weeks earlier at Big Ten media days in Chicago, Barbour had conceded that the talks were taking longer than she expected, but she did express opti- mism that they would eventually result in a new contract for the coach. "I can guarantee you this: We're 100 percent committed to James, and James is 100 percent committed to Penn State. So we're trying to get to the right place," she said. "Sometimes it can be compli- cated, but I have no concern about us getting there. It's probably going to take longer than any of us thought." Franklin is set to make $4.3 million this year under the terms of his current contract. He will make $4.4 million in 2018 and $4.5 million in 2019, and there are also a series of performance bonuses in his pact tied to Big Ten champi- onships, bowl games and Coach of the Year awards – bonuses he received last year after leading the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten title and a spot in the Rose Bowl. The market for prominent coaches has risen steeply since he signed that deal, with Nick Saban recently receiv- ing an extension from Alabama that will pay him $11.1 million this season. Michigan's Jim Harbaugh is second na- tionally at $9 million per year, while Ohio State's Urban Meyer is third at W R E S T L I N G Sanderson agrees to new contract with Penn State If it wasn't already, it's o:cial now. Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson is staying put. Speaking to reporters last month at Big Ten media days in Chicago, ath- letic director Sandy Barbour con- 9rmed that the four-time national Coach of the Year has re-upped his contact. His previous pact expired at the end of June. Barbour said that the agreement will keep Sanderson in his current position for the foreseeable future. "Cael and Penn State have exe- cuted a new long-term agreement," she said. Details of the contract, however, had yet to be publicized as of mid- August, and they might not ever become public, due to a university guideline. Barbour said that while athletic o:cials are required to di- vulge information about their coaches for the revenue sports, Olympic sports don't 9t the same cri- teria. "We're obligated to announce and have board approval on athletic direc- tor, football and the two basketball coaches," Barbour said. "The rest of them, we're not making practice of that." While the terms of Sanderson's ex- tension have not been disclosed, what is known is that Iowa State recently agreed to a seven-year, $2.25 million deal with Kevin Dresser. A four-time Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year while at Virginia Tech, Dresser is set to earn $300,000 a year in base salary at his alma mater, and as FloWrestling.org noted in recap- ping the news, his hiring "should help li; the salaries of coaches at other wrestling programs on the rise that are hoping to match the type of growth Dresser was able to cultivate" with the Hokies. Sanderson, 38, has certainly grown Penn State's program, having led the Lions to six NCAA team champi- onships in the past seven years. A graduate of Iowa State, where he 9n- ished his collegiate athletic career with a 159-0 record and four national titles, Sanderson started his coaching career with the Cyclones in 2006-07. He coached three seasons at his alma mater before he was hired by former athletic director Tim Curley at Penn State in 2009. This past season, as part of a championship performance in St. Louis, Sanderson coached five Nit- tany Lion wrestlers to individual NCAA titles, which tied a college wrestling record. His wrestlers have now captured 18 individual national championships, with 16 of those ti- tles having been won by Penn State wrestlers. Sanderson-coached com- petitors have also secured 58 All- America honors, 43 of which have been won at Penn State. "What Cael and our wrestling pro- gram have done is absolutely spectacu- lar, but there was never an issue [about the contract]," Barbour said. "There was never a concern [about a contract extension]. It was a matter of getting to the right place." –TIM OWEN CAEL SANDERSON Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletics

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