FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance said his school has made a formal contract offer to football coach Mike Leach.

Hance said the offer was made this afternoon and he hopes everything will be finalized, at the very latest, by early next week.

"We'd like for something to get done maybe this weekend or Monday or Tuesday," Hance said. "They're going to look it over probably tomorrow and Sunday and see what they think and we'll go from there."

Hance said the offer is for five years, but he wouldn't reveal the financial numbers. However, Hance said it would not be a five-year, $15 million package, as was suspected, since Leach is in the third year of a five-year, $10 million contract.

"I told him, I said: "We can't do $3 million a year for five years, we can't do $15 million,'" Hance said. "He had a contract that paid right at $10 million over five years, so we wanted to increase that."

Asked if Leach's new contract offer is between $12 million and $14 million, Hance said: "You're trying to take me down a path to get exact, and I don't want to go down that path."

With bonuses, Leach was slated to earn $2.65 million next year and $2.35 million in 2010.

"What this does is it gives him a little more money over the next five years," Hance said. "It's got some incentives in there that'll allow him to get in a situation where he can get some substantial bonuses as well.

"We tried to help him with bonuses and with getting him paid immediately with his base salary."

When contacted Friday about the contract offer, Leach's agent, Gary O'Hagan, said:

"I just don't think I should comment on it at this particular time. I think next week there will be further developments, maybe."

Leach is in his ninth season with Tech and guided the Raiders to a school-record 11-1 worksheet this year and a share of the Big 12 South title. Tech has earned a bowl bid in all nine seasons under Leach, and he propelled that success into an interview earlier this week with Washington for its vacant head coaching position.

Leach eventually pulled his name from consideration for the Washington job. And although his name has surfaced as a possible replacement for Tommy Tuberville at Auburn, Hance insists Leach is not leaving Lubbock.

"He's not going to leave, we're going to keep him," Hance said. "We're going to get him, that's our objective and we're being very generous.

"I think Mike is going to be pleased and I think things are going to work out well."

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(c) 2008, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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