IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa raised the salary of coach Kirk Ferentz on Friday in a deal that makes him one of the nation’s highest paid college football coaches.

Ferentz, who has led the Hawkeyes to two Big Ten titles and four straight January bowl games, was given a restructured contract that boosts his annual salary to $2.84 million from $1.44 million, with a one-time payment of $1.4 million.

The deal does not extend his contract, which expires after 2012. Ferentz was the head coach of the University of Maine football team from 1990-92.

“Coach Ferentz is among the very best coaches in the nation and this compensation package is reflective of that,” said Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby, who is leaving next month to become athletic director at Stanford.

The agreement “recognizes our confidence that coach Ferentz will continue to lead the University of Iowa football program to high achievement on and off the field in the years ahead.”

Most of the nation’s top college coaches have eclipsed the $2 million mark in recent years. Ferentz’s deal makes him one of the best paid coaches in the Big Ten and vaults him past Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who last month signed a seven-year extension reportedly worth $2.4 million in the first year.