1:53pm: Thibodeau's four-year extension will pay him about $17.5MM, with bonuses that could increase the total value to $20MM, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
1:14pm: The Bulls and Tom Thibodeau have reached an agreement on a four-year extension for the head coach, GM Gar Forman announced today at a press conference in Chicago (Twitter link via Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com). Thibodeau's contract, which was set to expire at season's end, had been a hot topic of discussion over the offseason, but the 2011 Coach of the Year says he was never worried about his future.
"I'm thankful to Jerry [Reinsdorf] and Gar and John [Paxson]," Thibodeau said (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune). "I never doubted it would work out. I love being here."
The Bulls initially elected to simply pick up Thibodeau's contract option for the 2012/13 rather than working out a long-term extension. However, we heard last month that the two sides had resumed negotiations on a new deal.
In his two years on the Bulls' bench, Thibodeau has led the team to an extremely impressive 112-36 (.757) record. The team has yet to break through in the postseason, however, with the 2011/12 season coming to an end after a pair of devastating injuries to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.