Mike Martz, who built the high-flying St. Louis Rams offense and helped the once-downtrodden team become a Super Bowl contender, has agreed to a contract extension through the 2006 season. Martz had two years remaining on a four-year deal that paid about $1.1 million annually. Terms of the new five-year contract were not disclosed, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Web site stltoday.com projected the value at between $3 million and $4 million per season.

``Coach Martz has brought an unprecedented standard of football excellence to St. Louis,'' Rams president John Shaw said. ``He not only has the Rams playing at a championship level, but he has also produced the most exciting team to watch in the National Football League.''

Martz said he was happy to get the negotiations out of the way before training camp begins. The Rams report to Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill., July 26.

``Things went real fast,'' Martz said. ``It's a good feeling to have it behind you.

``It's unusual that a club will do that with two years to go on the contract, pay you more money,'' he said. ``It's another indication of how well the club has treated me.''

Salaries for NFL head coaches have risen sharply in recent years. Kansas City Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil, lured out of retirement prior to the 2001 season, is earning $10 million over three years. Former University of Florida coach Steve Spurrier agreed to a deal with the Washington Redskins that pays him $5 million annually.

Martz came to St. Louis as Vermeil's offensive coordinator in 1999, the same year Marshall Faulk arrived in a trade and unheralded backup quarterback Kurt Warner took over for the injured Trent Green. The Rams went 16-3, scored 526 regular-season points, third most ever, and won the Super Bowl, 23-16 over the Tennessee Titans.

When Vermeil retired days after the Super Bowl, Martz was named head coach. The offense scored 540 points in 2000 and averaged 442 yards per game, but St. Louis fell to 10-6 thanks to a leaky defense. The Rams lost to New Orleans in the first round of the playoffs.

Prior to last season, Martz retooled the defense, hiring Lovie Smith as coordinator and acquiring nine new starters. The Rams exceeded 500 points for the third straight season and went 16-2 before losing to New England, 20-17, in one of the bigger upsets in the 36 Super Bowls.

The Rams have led the NFL in total offense in all three years that Martz has been in St. Louis as either offensive coordinator or head coach.

Martz first came to the NFL as an offensive assistant for the Rams, then in Los Angeles, in 1992, then served as quarterbacks coach in 1994 and receivers coach in 1995 and 1996.

He was quarterbacks coach for the Redskins in 1997 and 1998 before returning to St. Louis.