SEATTLE -- The Washington Huskies really want to keep coach Rick Neuheisel.

	Rick Neuheisel's contract extension keeps him among college football's highest-paid coaches.

The university on Tuesday announced that Neuheisel has agreed to a six-year contract extension that will keep him with the Huskies through 2008.

The university will loan him $1.5 million over that period, in addition to his annual university compensation of $1,212,000, athletics director Barbara Hedges said.

While he will make semiannual interest payments at 5 percent, the $1.5 million is his to keep if he stays for the six years. If he leaves before Jan. 1, 2008, he must repay the loan, plus pay an early departure penalty of $600,000. That penalty was increased from the previous $100,000.

"It is very important to the University of Washington that Rick Neuheisel remain as the coach here for as long as we can possibly keep him here,'' Hedges said.

The longevity of the coach is the key to a stable football program, Hedges said.

If Neuheisel were to agree to a five-year contract extension in 2008, he would receive an additional $1 million bonus, Hedges said.

Neuheisel, 41, is in the fourth year of the five-year deal he signed when he came from Colorado in 1999.

He is 59-25 overall, including four years at Colorado, and 26-11 at Washington.

A year ago Neuheisel's contract was modified to boost his annual compensation from $997,000 to $1,212,000.

Hedges said Neuheisel actually signed the new contract extension in mid-August. The UW had planned to announce the deal next week but news broke Tuesday.

"I'm a little bit embarrassed that this announcement comes on the heels of a mortifying defeat that involved a coaching snafu,'' Neuheisel told reporters.

The 14th-ranked Huskies lost 31-29 Saturday at Michigan on a last-second field goal after Washington was penalized for having too many players on the field.

Hedges said she hoped the contract would stop the rumors of Neuheisel's departure that seem to circulate every offseason.

"His name has been mentioned fairly often for other coaching positions,'' Hedges said. "This extension will discourage that, I hope.''

Neuheisel said he hopes the contract will help recruiting because recruits often ask him if he might leave.

The 2001 contract modification also provided incentives of $60,000 in each year that 75 percent of the players who have used up their eligibility graduate and $40,000 for each bowl appearance, rising to $100,000 for a Bowl Championship Series game and $150,000 for making the BCS title match.

If Neuheisel is fired "with cause'' during the six-year extension, he must repay the loan. If he is terminated "without cause'' he keeps the $1.5 million. Hedges did not elaborate on what would constitute cause for termination.