The Minnesota Golden Gophers are expected to offer basketball coach Tubby Smith a contract extension by the end of April, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Smith currently has two seasons remaining on a contract that pays him about $1.8 million per year.
According to the Star Tribune,
The timing is noteworthy because the school is in the process of hiring a new athletic director to replace Joel Maturi, who will depart June 30. Contract talks for Smith were put on hold until after the season because of the uncertainty with the athletic director and the fact that Eric Kaler was still new to his job as university president.
Smith came to Minnesota in 2007 and led the Gophers to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2009 and 2010. Minnesota has won at least 20 games each season Smith has been at the helm, save 2010-11, when it went 17-14.
This season Minnesota was 23-15 overall and went just 6-12 in the Big Ten. That 6-12 conference mark is pretty pedestrian, but an asterisk might be in order considering the team lost leading scorer Trevor Mbakwe to a torn ACL just seven games into the season. Before the injury, Mbakwe was averaging 14.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and nearly two blocks.
The team rallied late in the season to make it to the NIT championship game, where it lost to Stanford.
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