Cluess given extension at Iona

Mar 6, 2014 - 9:55 PM New Rochelle, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Iona College rewarded men's basketball head coach Tim Cluess with a new contract extension that will take him through the 2018-19 season.

Iona is 20-9 overall this season with a 17-3 record in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Gaels enter the 2014 MAAC Championship as the No. 1 seed and will take the court for first time in the quarterfinal round on Saturday.

"I'm very proud to be a part of the Iona College Community," said Cluess. "We will continue to work hard to build on our recent success on the court and I'm very appreciative of the support Dr. Nyre and our administration has given us."

Cluess led Iona to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013, earned a MAAC Tournament Championship in 2013 and two MAAC regular season championships in 2012 and 2014. With a program record 17 MAAC wins in 2014, the Gaels will compete in the postseason for the fourth straight season.

"The success Coach Cluess has had since arriving at Iona has been almost unprecedented," said Director of Athletics Rick Cole Jr. "We're very excited to have him on board for at least another five years. His commitment to the overall success of his student-athletes is what makes Coach Cluess the right man for Iona."

Cluess is currently the program's fifth winningest coach with 90 total wins. He has guided the Gaels to four straight years with 20 or more wins and is the only coach in program history to accomplish the feat in his first four seasons.