For those of you who missed my brief in today’s Post-Dispatch, it appears that Illinois athletics director Ron Guenther will receive a two-year contract extension. The details became available yesterday with the release of the agenda for Wednesday’s board of trustees meeting.The board will vote next week on a deal that will keep Guenther in position through 2010. His current contract expires at the end of this year.There isn’t a whole lot new I can offer, but the blurb in the paper was easy to miss on page 2 of the sports section, so I thought I’d give it another splash. Although an extension had been rumored, it is newsworthy because of reports that Guenther might retire at the end of this contract.

But he is in the midst of some major projects, including the Memorial Stadium renovation and a plan to either renovate or replace Assembly Hall.

Football coach Ron Zook and basketball coach Bruce Weber also are under contract for the foreseeable future. Guenther’s extension will allow them to continue with support from the man who has backed their work.

The proposed contract would run through 2010 and calls for Guenther’s salary to increase from $525,000 to $600,000 effective Aug. 16. He would receive $100,000 as an incentive to remain at Illinois through the life of the contract.

This will give Guenther two additional years to prove that St. Louis is as important to the university as he has said.

“I always refer to it as St. Louis, Illinois,” he once told me for a story. “It’s an important area to us, and we’re going to cover it.”