Graves signs 6-year, $4.125M extension with Oregon

Update 4/6/17:

Graves has officially signed his new contract extension, which will be for six years and $4.125 million dollars, according to a release from Oregon.

“The recent success in March Madness reiterated what we believed when we hired coach Graves — he’s among the very best women’s basketball coaches in the country,” UO director of athletics Rob Mullens said. “Along with success on the court, he’s providing a positive student-athlete experience while broadening the reach of his program in the community, and we’re glad he’ll be a Duck for at least another six years.”

Graves had this to say:

“We’re thrilled with the trajectory of the program, and look forward to continued growth in the coming years,” Graves said. “I really appreciate the faith from Rob Mullens and the rest of our administration to continue the progress we’ve made the last three years.”

According to the Register-Guard, Oregon women’s basketball head coach Kelly Graves has been rewarded with a six-year contract with over four million dollars in guaranteed salary. This salary bump and extension comes after leading the Ducks to their first-ever Elite Eight appearance.

Graves, who left Gonzaga in 2014 for a six year, $3.15 million contract, has had ascending levels of success since taking over the program. After a 13-17 first season, Graves and the Ducks went to the WNIT Final Four.

Graves was similarly successful with Gonzaga, going to the NCAA tournament his last six years in a row, making the Sweet Sixteen twice and the Elite Eight once. According to the Register-Guard, Graves has won nine NCAA tournament games while coaching a double digit seed.

Again, according to the Register-Guard, the Ducks will bring back a possible 11 of 14 members of this Elite Eight team, including the reigning national freshman of the year and Pac-12 selection in Sabrina Ionescu, and Ruthy Heard, who was also a Pac-12 selection.