08:20 PM PDT on Friday, July 14, 2006

Associated Press

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Pat Casey will remain coach of the national champion Oregon State baseball team, with a new contract his boss said would yield close to the $300,000 a year offered this week by Notre Dame.

KGW photo

OSU baseball coach Pat Casey speaks at a news conference Friday.

Referring to the title the Beavers captured last month, athletic director Bob De Carolis said, "Now we have shown that we can also compete in another area, taking on a tremendous university in Notre Dame and having our coach stay."

De Carolis said Friday at a news conference that Casey's new, 10-year contract would include base pay of $230,000, along with bonuses and side deals that would raise his annual compensation to close to $300,000. His base salary last year was $120,000.

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Casey went to the South Bend, Ind., school earlier this week and talked to top officials, but Oregon State announced Friday that he had agreed to stay.

De Carolis said the idea of the contract was to keep Casey for "a long, long time," either as baseball coach or an administrator. The school also agreed to give "significant bumps" to Casey's assistants and to step up improvements to the baseball facilities, De Carolis said.

Casey, 45, said "there really wasn't a lot of negotiating" and said his decision was influenced heavily by what he called an unbelievable outpouring of support from the region, the team and the staff.

"It really blew me away," he said.

Casey has compiled a 391-253-4 record in 12 years at Oregon State.

Last month, the Beavers fought off elimination six times, becoming the first team in College World Series history to lose twice in Omaha and win the national championship.