Gary Pinkel helped lead long-suffering Missouri into college football's elite this year. Now he has the contract to match that lofty perch.

Missouri athletic director Mike Alden announced yesterday that Pinkel will receive a $550,000 annual raise, boosting his guaranteed compensation to $1.85 million a year.

Pinkel also gets a one-year extension through 2012. Late last season, he was given a $225,000 raise and three-year extension.

The announcement comes as No. 7 Missouri (11-2) prepares to face No. 25 Arkansas (8-4) in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1 in Dallas.

Pinkel, 55, is in his seventh season at Missouri, which won the most regular-season games in school history and was briefly ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press and Bowl Championship Series standings before losing the Big 12 Conference title game to Oklahoma in early December.

Pinkel is 48-37 at Missouri and 121-74-3 in 17 seasons overall. The pay raise makes him the third-highest paid head coach in the Big 12, behind only Bob Stoops of Oklahoma and Mack Brown of Texas, both of whom make in excess of $2.6 million annually.

Florida State -- Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher said he would be staying at the school, ending rumors that he might become the next head coach at West Virginia. "I am a native of West Virginia, and I love the state, but I want to make clear that I am staying at Florida State," he said in a statement. Fisher, 42, has said he would succeed Bobby Bowden as coach at Florida State.