NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Ohio men’s basketball team’s recently completed historic season was highlighted by more than gutsy play during Friday’s loss to the Gators.
Following the Bobcats’ most successful regular season since in 10 years, and its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1994, the Ohio Athletics Department extended Ohio coach Tim O’Shea’s contract through 2009-10.
O’Shea had been rumored as a candidate for several other coaching positions, including the recently opened Massachusetts job, but Ohio was prepared to reward the coach who led the team to its first Mid-American Conference Championship since 1994.
“It was in the works for a few days and when the UMass thing came up, that served as some level of motivation,” Ohio Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh said. “The most important thing for us, though, was to make a commitment to Tim and to make sure there were no distractions for the student-athletes.” >Ohio’s overall record at Ohio is a relatively modest 62-58 — and 44-38 in conference play, including the MAC Tournament — but he finished this season at 21-11 and 15-7 in the MAC.
The recent success led to a few rumors about O’Shea winding up on someone else’s bench next season.
“Anytime you have some success,” Boeh said, “people could see the framework for the future was put in place and Tim’s stock, as we expected, went up around the country.” Now, though, he’ll stay on Ohio’s bench for the next five years.
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