Big Dance bid or not, Bill Carmody is here to stay.
Carmody, who is in his 11th season at the helm of the men’s basketball program, has signed on to a multi-year contract extension with Northwestern, athletic department officials announced Monday. Carmody said although the decision was just released, he actually signed the contract prior to the start of the 2010-2011 season.
As a private school, NU is under no obligation to release the terms of the contract. The Chicago Tribune reported Monday night that the pact was a two-year deal running through the 2012-2013 season.
Carmody said he intends to stay with the Wildcats for a while.
“Northwestern’s a great place, a special place,” Carmody said. “I’m happy to get the opportunity to continue to coach this team, and I think things have really gotten better the past few years. Recruiting-wise, we just have a good bunch of guys.”
During Carmody’s tenure at NU, he has amassed a 150-167 record and led the Cats to three winning seasons as well as back-to-back NIT appearances in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. When he came to NU after a four-year stint as Princeton’s head coach, Carmody brought with him his patented Princeton offense, a complex system that relies heavily on movement and efficient backdoor cuts. Carmody’s team-oriented offense helped to revitalize a program that had put together just three winning seasons between 1969 and his arrival in 2000.
Over the past ten seasons the Cats have clocked three winning seasons, including a program-high 20-win season in 2009-10. Carmody was named Big Ten coach of the year in 2004 after leading NU to a fifth-place conference finish.
“We are playing a more exciting brand of basketball now,” Carmody said. “We’re getting the ball down the court a little bit more, we’ve got more good players that people like to watch and see. It’s pretty good basketball and it’s more entertaining than it used to be.”
Still, there is one accolade that Carmody, and NU, would like to add to the list: an all-important NCAA Tournament appearance.
A tournament bid would prove particularly affirming for a team that has never made it to the Big Dance in its 71-year history despite, by some cruel stroke of irony, hosting the first-ever NCAA Tournament championship in 1939.
“Obviously, my goal for the program is that we make it to the Tournament,” Carmody said. “I want to help continue to make this a program that can compete for titles.”
Though NU lost the first three of its four opening conference games, this year’s team is the most experienced squad Carmody has coached – and his best shot at a Tournament bid.
It’s an opportunity that comes courtesy of players like ball-handling whiz senior point guard Michael Thompson, who ranks as one of NU’s most touted recruits in program history.
Signing Thompson marked a significant recruiting milestone for NU basketball as Carmody began to attract players from Chicago’s hotbed of youth talent.
Thompson said he was drawn to Carmody’s complex, innovative offense.
“He does a great job coaching us,” Thompson said. “He gives a lot of opportunities to play the way that each person is capable of playing. A lot of players, throughout the Chicagoland area and throughout the country, they see the way that we are playing, and now we are starting to win. They are going to want to play for him.”
