Maine coach a free agent Tuesday
Jack Cosgrove is one of the lowest paid football coaches in the Atlantic 10 conference.

ORONO (AP) – University of Maine football Coach Jack Cosgrove’s contract expires Monday, making him free to pursue other jobs the following day, July 1.

The two-time Atlantic 10 football Coach of the Year is completing a five-year contract and one-year extension.

The university is negotiating a new contract with Cosgrove, but Athletic Director Patrick Nero said no formal agreement is expected by July 1.

Nero said Cosgrove will stay on with the university under their current agreement.

Cosgrove said a verbal agreement is in place, needing only to be approved by Maine President Peter Hoff. Neither Nero nor Cosgrove would comment on the terms of the proposed agreement or when a contract would be signed.

“My intent has always been to stay at the University of Maine,” said Cosgrove, 47, who has coached the Black Bears to a share of the Atlantic 10 championship and to the NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinals each of the past two years. Maine also set a school record with 11 victories last season.

The 10-year coach’s annual salary is $105,000, making Cosgrove the second lowest-paid football coach in the Atlantic 10 conference but one of the higher paid employees at the university.

“I like it here. I went to school here,” Cosgrove said. “I like raising my family here. We’ve had two years of success. Let’s have three years and four years and keep this thing going.”

The average salary for Atlantic 10 football coaches at the conference’s five public schools – Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, James

Madison and Rhode Island – is $120,448.

Hofstra, Northeastern, Richmond, Villanova and William & Mary are private institutions and did not disclose the salaries of their coaches.