New Mexico's Neal to receive two-year extension

Mar 31, 2014 - 11:16 PM Albuquerque, NM (SportsNetwork.com) - The University of New Mexico announced Monday that head men's basketball coach Craig Neal, who became the first rookie coach in school history to lead the Lobos to the NCAA Tournament, will receive a two-year contract extension.

Neal, whose original contract was for five years and ran through the 2017-18 season, will now see his contract run through the 2019-20 season.

Neal took over the head job this season following six seasons as the associate head coach with the program and led the Lobos to a 27-7 record, including a 15-3 mark in the Mountain West and a 2-2 record against Top 25 programs.

He also led the Lobos to a third straight Mountain West Tournament title, though New Mexico lost to Stanford in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

"We are excited about the direction of the program under Craig's leadership, and we are glad that he wants to be here at the University of New Mexico," said New Mexico vice president for athletics Paul Krebs.