A new $250,000 contract goes into effect today for Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger.Geiger has served as the university’s athletic director since 1994, and his new five-year contract will keep him at OSU until June 30, 2004.According to David Williams II, OSU vice president for Student Affairs, negotiations on the contract were not difficult.”We think Andy has done a very good job and we wanted to keep him at OSU,” Williams said. “The pay raise is just an indication that we are pleased with his performance.”The $250,000 base pay is a 39 percent increase from Geiger’s previous salary of $179,676. The contract also includes incentives for things such as the percentage of student athletes with grade point averages of at least 3.0, the graduation rates of student athletes and the university’s overall sports performance.Some people have criticized such a large pay increase, but the way Geiger’s contract was set up is rather misleading, Williams said. He said things such as dealing with the press and the football team’s appearances in bowl games were incentives in the old contract; now these things have been included in the base salary.”When you consider that he made $45,000 in incentives last year, the increase does not sound unreasonable,” Williams said. “We have been very satisfied with Andy’s first five years and we think that the next five years will be good for everyone as well.”Geiger’s new contract will end around the same time most people retire, age 65. Williams said they would be very pleased to keep Geiger at OSU until his retirement. In an interview with the Columbus Dispatch on June 4, Geiger said that he plans to be at OSU until his retirement, but he would not commit himself to retirement at age 65.The increase was approved by the Board of Trustees at their June 4 meeting.