Memphis believes in Josh Pastner. The school gave its 33-year-old coach a five-year extension Monday that brings his annual pay to $1.7 million and keeps him there through the 2015-16 season.
Not bad for a guy who’s 49-20 in two seasons.
Even more impressive is that Pastner was this close to coaching an NIT team in both those seasons. As Jeff Goodman writes, if the Tigers didn’t pull out a win vs. UTEP in the Conference USA title game, they would’ve missed the Big Dance.
That happens, and there’s probably no extension and Pastner enters next season under some pressure to reach the NCAA tournament.
That one win proved to be quite the payday.
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