Fresno State Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh announced Monday that a contract extension for Bulldogs’ head men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry has been finalized and signed – extending Terry’s contract through the end of the 2018-19 season.
The terms of the contract include the extension of the term length three additional years as Terry already had two remaining years on his current contract.
"Rodney Terry has changed the culture of our Fresno State men’s basketball program," Boeh said. "He has brought back the academic standards that we expect of our Bulldog student-athletes and the team delivered an exciting run on the court late in the season and into postseason play. There is an excitement building in the community that was clearly demonstrated last season with more fans returning to the Save Mart Center."
In 2013-14, Terry led the Bulldogs to the program’s first 20-win season and postseason appearance in seven years with Fresno State reaching the finals of the 16-team College Basketball Invitational. He also coached freshman guard/forward Paul Watson to Freshman All-American and Mountain West Freshman of the Year honors, along with two other all-conference selections in senior guard Tyler Johnson and sophomore guard Marvelle Harris.
In league play, Terry led Fresno State to a fifth-place finish and orchestrated the best midseason turnaround in conference history by guiding the Bulldogs to a 9-9 record in MW play after starting the league slate 1-7. No MW team that had started that 1-7 or 0-8 had ever won more than a total of four conference games – a mark Fresno State more than doubled with its nine conference wins for the program’s best conference record since the 2006-07 season.
The Bulldogs closed the regular season by winning eight of their last ten games and won 13 of their last 18 games, including postseason play.
"I am honored and thankful to Dr. Castro and Thomas Boeh for their continued support and commitment they have given to me and my staff," Terry said. "A culture based on hard work, consistency, and representing this great community has been established over the past three years, and we will continue to build on that foundation into the future. I am extremely excited about the opportunity to continue to lead our program into next season and beyond. Staff continuity, support from our administration, as well as our outstanding Fresno State fan base, has made this a great place to be, and I look forward to many years of success for Bulldog Basketball."
Since Terry’s first season at Fresno State, fan support has steadily grown. With 19 home games during the 2013-14 season, Fresno State went 14-5 at the Save Mart Center with over 128,000 fans attending those home games – up from just over 91,000 fans in 2011-12.
For its home opener vs. CSU Northridge (14,770) and home finale vs. then-No. 10 San Diego State (14,801), Fresno State recorded two of its top five all-time attendance marks for a home game. Those contests also marked the 26th and 27th, respectively, games of over 12,000 at the Save Mart Center.
In the classroom, Fresno State posted a program-record 980 Academic Progress Rate for the 2012-13 season – the most recent year for which the NCAA has announced its academic ratings.
Terry has the ‘Dogs entering the 2014-15 season returning four starters from last year’s squad while adding Texas transfer Julien Lewis and sophomore forward Braeden Anderson, who missed all of last season due to injury. Additionally, his recruiting class of three freshmen and one junior college transfer that will join the Bulldogs’ program next season is Terry’s highest-ranked class to date.
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