Aggies and Gillespie reach extension

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A&M, Gillispie have verbal agreement  ESPN.com news services

Texas A&M appears poised to retain Billy Gillispie as men's basketball coach and make him the highest paid among his Big 12 peers, according to media reports in Texas.

The Houston Chronicle, which cited three high-ranking officials both in and close to the A&M system, reported athletic director Bill Byrne and Gillispie have verbally agreed to a deal that would pay him about $2 million annually.

According to the report, that deal was to be discussed in executive session at an A&M Board of Regents meeting on Thursday and made official on Monday -- just in time for the school to break ground on a $22 million basketball practice facility.

That would render moot speculation that Arkansas, which fired Stan Heath on Monday, would land Gillispie.

At the time of Heath's firing, his staff was told Arkansas intended to pursue Gillispie and Kansas coach Bill Self, multiple sources told ESPN.com. And sources close to Gillispie told ESPN.com he was waiting to see if a contract raise and extension were approved by the university board of regents before proclaiming himself a candidate at Arkansas.

Stanley Reed, chairman of the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees, confirmed to The Associated Press that Gillispie was a candidate, but said he's not the only one.

"As far as I know, he's definitely a candidate," Reed told the AP on Wednesday. "But there are some others out there."

"I know we've tried to make contact with him," Reed said. "We're kind of waiting on him to call us back."

On Wednesday, Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles said he had offered the Razorbacks' basketball coaching job to someone, but he wouldn't say to whom.

"We could have a quick announcement," Broyles told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday. "Or it could fall through. I've offered the job, and we're waiting to hear."

But when contacted by the Chronicle, Broyles stepped back from that statement.

"That's not true exactly," Broyles told the Chronicle of the quotes attributed to him by the Democrat-Gazette. "Part of it's true, and part of it's not. I haven't talked to any coach."

When asked specifically about whether Arkansas was pursuing Gillispie, Broyles told the Chronicle "I have no comment. I have not talked to Billy Gillispie."

Gillispie, 47, took the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament's third round this year. He has been at Texas A&M for three seasons, going 70-26 with a team that was 7-21 the season before he arrived.

Gillispie also coached at Texas-El Paso from 2002-04, going 6-24 in 2002-03 and 24-8 the following season.

Heath led Kent State to the round of eight in the NCAA Tournament in 2002, then took over at Arkansas that offseason after Nolan Richardson was fired. The Razorbacks missed the tournament in Heath's first three seasons but made it in 2006 and 2007, only to lose in the first round both years, to Bucknell last year and Southern California this year.

Information from ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz and The Associated Press was used in this report