CHARLOTTE — The Clemson Board of Trustees Compensation Committee officially approved an updated contract Thursday that will officially give Brent Venables the largest contract for an assistant coach in college football.

Venables was approved for a five-year deal that will be worth $11.6 million dollars, including incentives and retention bonus.

Clemson’s defensive coordinator will still make the $2 million per year he was approved for back in February, but his contract was extended two more years from the original three-year deal.

According to the terms in Venables contract, he will earn a retention bonus of $200,000 per year the first two years of the deal. The final three years, he will be paid $400,000 per year in retention bonuses.

The retention bonuses will be paid at the end of the college football season, 15 days after the national championship game. The retention bonuses will fund a split dollar life insurance plan.

LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda will still be the highest paid assistant coach in terms of annual salary. He will make $2.5 million per year for four seasons, while Venables will average $2.3 million over his five-year deal. Aranda’s deal is reportedly worth $10 million over the life of the deal.

There is no buyout for Venables should he leave Clemson for a head coaching job. However, if he leaves Clemson for another coordinators job then he will have to pay 25 percent of the total remaining of the contract.

In February, Clemson made Venables the second $2 million assistant coach in college football when the Board of Trustees approved his old three-year $6 million contract.

Venables’ contract already details that if Clemson is a Top-10 defense, Venables will receive a $50,000 bonus or a $100,000 for a Top-5 defense. In addition, he will receive a $50,000 bonus for a defense ranking in the Top-10 for total defense or $100,000 for a Top-5 total defense.

Those metrics will be determined by the Sports Source Analytics on the Monday following the ACC Championship Game.

Last year, Venables helped lead the Tigers to a third straight ACC Championship after fielding a defensive unit that led the conference in scoring, total, rushing and passing defense for the first time in the program’s history.

Clemson finished second in the nation in scoring defense, fourth in total defense and fourth in passing defense in 2017.

Venables will make up to $315,000 in incentive bonuses, according to the terms of his contract.