After Elite Eight Run, Texas Names Rodney Terry Head Coach

Terry earned the right to be head coach.

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Rodney Terry Texas
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

After an Elite Eight run, the Texas Longhorns rewarded Rodney Terry by removing the interim tag and naming him the university’s full-time head men’s basketball coach.

CBSSports.com reports that Terry agreed to a five-year, $15.3 million deal with the school. The deal was only fitting for the man that accomplished more than the school could have imagined.

After taking over for Chris Beard, who was fired in January after being arrested on charges of domestic violence (which were eventually dropped in February), Terry rallied the team and led the Longhorns to a Big 12 tournament title after thumping Kansas, 76-56.

The Longhorns were the no.2 seed in the Midwest in this year’s NCAA tournament and made it to the Elite Eight before succumbing to Miami in a close 88-81 loss on Sunday night.

Terry went 22-7 as the team’s interim head coach, and the university made the correct move of keeping the Texas boy at home. Terry is from a suburb of Houston and was an assistant coach under former Texas head coach, Rick Barnes from 2002-11. During that time the Longhorns made its sole run to make the Final Four in 2003.

Now Texas keeps a coach whom the players love and fans grew to love and respect after his incredible coaching performance this season.

But the team also retains an experienced former head coach.

Terry was the head coach at Fresno State for seven years, going 126-108 over that span. He then moved to UTEP for three seasons before joining the Longhorns as an assistant in 2021.