Report: Texas finalizing deal to name Rodney Terry head basketball coach

Rodney Terry did everything he needed to do at Texas after taking over for Chris Beard. He picked up where the original coach left off and led the Longhorns within one game of the Final Four. Now, the athletic department down in Austin is rewarding him with exactly what he deserved for the job.

Texas is finalizing a deal with Terry to be named the official head coach of their men’s basketball program. That update is according to Jon Rothstein. A press conference is expected later this week.

After posting a 22-7 record as the interim, he will now be leading the Longhorns forward with no more strings attached.

In total, this was Terry’s eleventh season in Austin as a member of the staff at Texas. He spent nine years as an assistant from 2002-2011 before returning as associate head coach for the last two seasons.

That brings him to 27 seasons of overall college basketball coaching experience. During his nearly three decades, Terry has two other stops as a head coach at Fresno State and UTEP. In his time as a head coach, his career record sits at 185-164 (.530). A large segment of his success came in his last three seasons with the Bulldogs and this season with Texas.

“He is the primary reason that team stayed together,” Bobby Burton of Inside Texas said of Terry. “I don’t think you can discount just how difficult a task that was given the circumstances surrounding Chris Beard’s firing.”

“The whole season could have gone sideways but it didn’t,” said Burton. “He held that group together.”

Once Beard was removed from his position, Terry became the natural choice to take over. Still, amidst all his success, he never had his interim tag removed at any point of the season.

While that left many wondering which way Chris Del Conte was leaning, he has now made the school’s intentions with Terry very clear moving forward with this new deal.

Terry was able to lead Texas to a Big 12 Tournament Title and a spot in the Elite Eight without even coaching the whole season. While he had a very talented roster to work with, that speaks volumes about what he can be as a coach, recruiter, and leader in the future.

Now, we’ll have to wait and see how his career continues next season now that he’ll be officially official on the sidelines of the Moody Center next season.