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Fresno State’s Rodney Terry Reportedly Interviews For UTEP Job
Would Terry leave for UTEP?
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Terry is one of seven who have interviewed for the open Miner job.
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Fresno State is currently preparing to play San Diego State in the Mountain West tournament, but Monday morning head coach Rodney Terry is linked to another coaching job.
The El Paso Times is reporting that Terry is one of five head coaches — a pair of unnamed assistants are in the mix as well — to have interviewed for the Conference USA opening. The others who have also interviewed are Joe Dooley, head coach at Florida Gulf Coast; Steve Forbes, head coach at East Tennessee State; Ray Harper, head coach at Jacksonville State; Randy Rahe, head coach at Weber State and Rodney Terry.
Miners Athletics Director Jim Senter would not tip his hand about the interview process.
“I cannot and will not be discussing any details about the search or any possible candidates,” he said. “This is out of respect for the candidates themselves and the need for confidentiality. I know there is a lot of curiosity and interest from the Miner Nation. This is still early in the process.”
UTEP is looking for a new head coach since Tim Floyd resigned after a 1-5 start and since then have been coached by assistant Phil Johnson on an interim basis.
This is odd for Terry to consider a move to Conference USA and away from the Mountain West. He has built something fairly special at Fresno State and in seven years has a record of 126–107 which includes three postseason appearances with one NCAA berth.
Being considered is one thing but Terry has actually interviewed for the position per this report. This doesn’t seem to be a money thing as he signed an extension just over ago to keep him in town through 2021.
That deal totaled $3.075 million and this year makes $600,000 and the deal increases by $50,000 per year with it capping out at $650,000 for the final two years. There are also bonuses to earn in addition to this base pay.
One interesting note in his contract is that it does not contain a buyout and fomrer athletics director Jim Bartko never gave a reason as to why.
One reason that Terry might be considering a move is because a deal was in place for an extention but it took, for some reason, eight months for an official agreement. That was because of a fight over a reassignment clause which would allow for the school to put Terry in a different position instead of firing him or to place him on some sort of leave while an exit could be put together.
Maybe there is bad blood because of that but there is also an interim athletics director Steve Robertello, but this is an odd scenario between Terry and the school.
With no buyout then Terry could walk and not owe the school anything, but it is also hard to believe he would leave his current job for UTEP. The Miners have had some success on the hardwood but the Floyd era never materialized into what the school thought it would. There were zero NCAA Tournament appearances but he won 58 percent of his games and twice had 20 or more wins.