MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota’s contract extension with coach Tubby Smith has a $2.5 million limit on what the university must pay if he’s fired before the end of the deal.

Smith’s three-year extension through the 2016-17 season was completed last week. The university made the details available on Friday.

He makes about $1.8 million per year, before bonuses. If Smith’s deal is terminated between now and April 30, 2016, the university will pay half his base salary and supplemental compensation for the remainder of the contract.

But that amount cannot exceed $2.5 million, a clause that would save the school hundreds of thousands of dollars if the Gophers were to struggle again and Smith were to be let go next spring.