Rutgers AD Keli Zinn told NJ.com in an interview that head basketball coach Steve Pikiell will be back next season.

Zinn told NJ.com, “I believe he deserves that chance. Certainly, when you look at the win/loss column, it’s not where we want to be. He doesn’t want to be there, but I think they’ve got really good plans in place. I was thrilled as I’ve been able to take a closer look at it as to what they’re looking at and what they’re expecting. I do think in a number of instances, we’re pretty close. Certainly, I’ve watched a lot of basketball, and in some cases, we came up short, but there was enough there to say, let’s make an investment in it and give him another year.”

Zinn did indicate that expectations are high for next year, “I think Steve would say that he has a lot to prove next year. Certainly, we’re expecting to see progress there, and we’re both excited for it.”

It will be interesting to see what happens if those expectations are not met. According to the report, Pikiell’s contract through the 2030-31 season and he would be owed $16.4 million if he were fired following the 2026-27 campaign.

The Scarlet Knights are currently 12-17 (5-13 Big Ten) with two regular season games remaining. In his nearly ten full seasons at Rutgers, Pikiell has gone 159-157 (.503), with his best record coming in 2019-20 when his squad went 20-11.