BATON ROUGE — After leading the LSU women’s basketball team to the school’s first Southeastern Conference title and back-to-back Final Four appearances, head coach Pokey Chatman has been given a new four-year contract, director of athletics Skip Bertman announced on Friday.

The contract was approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors at Friday’s meeting in Shreveport.

Chatman’s new contract pays the second-year LSU coach a base salary of $250,000 annually plus an additional sum of $135,000 for television, radio and internet appearances in 2005-06. The television, radio and internet portion of Chatman’s salary will increase each year for the next three years, topping out at $180,000 in 2008-09, the final year of the current contract.

“Pokey has stepped in and taken our women’s basketball program to heights never reached before here at LSU,” Bertman said. “Her leadership abilities, both on and off the floor, along with her recruiting talent, continue to make LSU one of the top women’s programs in the country.

“This contract shows our belief in what she’s doing and what she will do in the future for women’s basketball at LSU.”

Chatman’s salary will be incentive based as well as she stands to make an additional $15,000 for making the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, $30,000 for an appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, $40,000 for winning the regular season SEC title or advancing to the NCAA Final Four and $70,000 for winning the national title.

Under the provisions of the contract, Chatman’s additional compensation for any given year may not exceed $70,000 or over.