UNM is talking contract extension, but is Pitino receptive?
Mar. 22—The coaching carousel is spinning in college basketball as fast as the transfer portal is filling up with players.
And UNM's players and coaches are no exception.
Both second-year Lobos coach Richard Pitino and UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez have told the Journal in the past 48 hours they are in talks on a new contract that would not only feature more money for the head coach and his staff but also an extension on the six-year contract he signed in 2021.
Meanwhile, neither would respond to Journal questions on Wednesday about whether Pitino or his agent is talking to any other schools about their job openings, as the Journal has been told by multiple sources.
Pitino's current six-year contract has the 40-year-old coach earning about $800,000 per year including a $25,000 retention bonus he stands to collect next week and other bonus/incentive clauses.
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His contract also would require a $2 million buyout should he leave before the end of contract Year No. 2, which is next week (March 31). That buyout amount drops to $1.2 million, however, in April.
Both sides have acknowledged among the sticking points for Pitino in a possible new contract at UNM would be investing more in the basketball program for such things as charter flights and assistant coach and support staff salaries. Both Pitino's salary and the salary pool for assistants and support staff rank about fifth or sixth in the 11-team Mountain West.
Pitino confirmed to the Journal earlier this week he and his agent were talking this week with UNM.
Nuñez on Wednesday told the Journal that UNM has presented a new deal to Pitino and his agent, but would not comment on any specific details in the agreement.
Both sides began talks of renegotiating his contract during this past season, one in which the Lobos had their first 20-win campaign (22-12) and first postseason berth of any kind since 2014. The Pit also hosted for the first time in several years a rejuvenated fan base, welcoming in more than 230,000 fans, had its first (and second) sellouts since 2016 and featured five games of better than 15,000 fans in attendance.
The Pit's listed capacity is 15,411.
Pitino, who coached at Minnesota in the Big Ten for eight years prior to UNM and also was an assistant at Louisville and Florida when both of those teams were among the nation's elite, has said since he arrived in Albuquerque that he wanted to coach at a place that prioritizes basketball and has a chance to win championships in its league.
"The reason why I chose New Mexico, quite frankly, is New Mexico wants to win championships," Pitino said in a 2021 interview. "I was eight years at Minnesota as a head coach. I was one year as a head coach at FIU. I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not sure that we believed we could win championships. ...
"On the West Coast, and in the Southwest, there's probably Arizona, Gonzaga and New Mexico, and that's it who care as deeply about college basketball like we do. We have a top five, maybe top three home court advantage in all of college basketball."
He went on to say then that UNM "has the resources," facilities and fan support to succeed at a high level.
