Huse and Binford get 3-year extensions

[longhorn_22]

From the Gazette:

BOZEMAN - Citing teams that perform well on the court and in the classroom, Montana State University has agreed to three-year contract extensions for men's basketball coach Brad Huse and women's basketball coach Tricia Binford.

Each coach enters the final year of a three-year pact in 2009-10, and each new contract begins on July 1, 2010.

"Coach Huse and Coach Binford are committed to building programs the right way," MSU athletic director Peter Fields said. "These extensions show the University's commitment to them. Their teams are succeeding academically and competing at a high level."

Binford is 49-66 in four seasons at MSU, including a 33-28 mark in the past two seasons. The Bobcats have advanced to the Big Sky Tournament for the past three seasons, and played in the semifinals last spring and the Big Sky Championship game in 2008.
After being picked among the league's bottom two teams before the 2008-09 season, the Bobcat men's team finished the regular season sixth, and roared through the league tournament to within seconds of a conference title, winning at Montana and Weber State along the way. Huse is 40-51 in three seasons at MSU.

The contracts are pending approval by the Montana Board of Regents.

[mslacat]

I am very happy to see this. The restrictions that the administration has put on these coaches in terms recruiting has made it more difficult for to develop these in team. I have talked to Fields on a few occasions over the past few years and he has made it quite clear that he want our programs to be primarily freshmen based, and only go the transfer (JC or other wise) very sparely. Then you have to look at the kids we are going after, you will notice how many of them are also being pursued by Ivy league schools and the service academies. That alone should tell you the caliber of student athletes that our coaches are going after. Now this is all good stuff, but to do things this way it takes time to develop. This was made even more difficult for the men's program when Brad took over the program it was a mess with the Brandon Miller problem. It is/was real difficult to convince an Ivy League/Service academy caliber kid or his family to come to your school and never mind that murder thing, or the drug thingy or the NCAA penalties. Hopefully that is all behind us. The point that I am try to beat to death, is that if are going to do this the way the administration and the fans want it will take time. The typical three years for a coach to prove himself, I just don't think was enough to do this right. From my conversations with Fields I really had no doubt that he would give the programs this time but it was really nice to him put his money where his mouth was. This is a good thing.

Now about Binford, she earned it. We are going to be lucky to keep her all three years. I do not have any personal information about Binford's plans, but she is going to be a pretty hot commodity real soon. She is the real deal. It maybe real early, given that most of the other coaches have not been around as long but she is the star right now in our stable of coaches.

[CelticCat]

Yea I'm afraid Binford will be on to bigger things shortly. I think we got a great coach in her and she has proved she is more than capable. I would love to keep her here for a long time, but I think she might get some offers she can't refuse here within the next year or so.

I'm still on the fence about Huse. I realize it was a tough situation he came into, but I haven't been impressed by our play since he took over. Last year's ending was nice, but the end of the regular season was a disaster. If we don't improve this year, especially coming off a nice tourney run, I'm going to be pretty disappointed.

[GOKATS]

I'm really glad to see this for both coaches. I feel good about both programs under their leadership. It's just too bad that MSU can't offer a more competitive salary which would keep them here for the long run. Hopefully we'll have them both for at least three years.

[wbtfg]

Congrat’s to both coaches. Both well deserved...

[bpcats]

Both coaches deserved extensions. Coach Binford has done a tremendous job of rebuilding the ladies program. We are fortunate that she is our coach. Coach Huse has done a good job also. This should be a telling year for the men's program as the Cats are done with major roster overhauls, and players not knowing how to run Huse's offense. Coach Huse does a good job of getting the most out of his talent but it will be hard to replace Divaldo.

[technoCat]

Yea I'm afraid Binford will be on to bigger things shortly. I think we got a great coach in her and she has proved she is more than capable. I would love to keep her here for a long time, but I think she might get some offers she can't refuse here within the next year or so.

I'm still on the fence about Huse. I realize it was a tough situation he came into, but I haven't been impressed by our play since he took over. Last year's ending was nice, but the end of the regular season was a disaster. If we don't improve this year, especially coming off a nice tourney run, I'm going to be pretty disappointed.

Exactly my thoughts. Which team shows up this year, the one that collapsed at the end of the season and limped into the playoffs or the one that took it to the Griz and Wildcats in the own houses. I'm personally thinking the latter. The success in the tournament should have unified the team and I think they know what they are capable of now. Congrats to both coaches!

[BearCat]

Yay Binford!!! BOOO HUSE!!!!!