Gophers head women’s basketball coach Pam Borton received a two-year contract extension shortly before former athletics director Joel Maturi’s tenure ended in June 2012, current AD Norwood Teague confirmed Thursday.

Contract extensions happen all the time, but this particular extension was strange because it wasn’t announced publicly. Borton confirmed the extension to the Star Tribune on Wednesday.

The contract pays Borton a minimum of $485,000 annually, and a buyout would cost the University more than $500,000, according to the Star Tribune — up from $335,000 before the extension.

Teague, speaking to the media for the first time in months, said he was not part of the decision to extend Borton.

“I would’ve wanted to announce it. I always want to be as transparent as possible — we don’t want to hide anything,” he said. “When you have a high-paid coach sign, you want to do that.”

Borton, who has coached the Gophers since 2002, led them to a Final Four appearance in 2004. But Minnesota hasn’t made an NCAA tournament in four years, and attendance is down more than 70 percent — from nearly 10,000 fans per game in 2003-04 to fewer than 3,000 last season.

The Gophers wrapped up their regular season Sunday. They’ll likely need to make a run in the Big Ten tournament next weekend to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

-Andrew Krammer contributed to this report