Sources: Ohio gives Albin extension through ’26

2:02 PM ET Pete ThamelESPN Ohio University and coach Tim Albin have actually accepted a two-year agreement extension through the 2026 season, sources told ESPN.The brand-new deal includes a salary dive to $ 700,000 from$535,000, according to sources. There’s also a brand-new stipulation in the contract

that offers him an automatic year extension for winning eight games or the MAC championship.Ohio won 7 successive games to conclude the routine season in 2015 before being up to Toledo in the MAC champion. Ohio won the Arizona Bowl over Wyoming to complete the season 10-4, which connected the school record for victories in a season.Albin is 13-13 through 2 seasons at Ohio. He took over in July 2021 when long time coach Frank Solich stepped down to focus on his health.

Ohio struggled in Albin’s very first season, as he moved from offending coordinator to head coach.But the Bobcats hit a groove in 2022, opening with a win versus Florida Atlantic and losing just one MAC game throughout the routine season. Albin won MAC Coach of the Year, as Ohio ended up 7-1 in conference play and provided the program’s fifth-ever look in the MAC title game. Toledo beat Ohio, 17-7, preventing Ohio from winning the school’s first MAC title given that 1968. Ohio played that game without star quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who was vote the leading player in the MAC after throwing for 3,256 yards. He tore his ACL on Nov. 15 and is expected to return next season. He projects as the league’s

preseason player of the year and will be the focal point for Ohio’s expectations heading into 2023. Ohio opens the season Week 0 at San Diego State on Aug. 26.