DENVER — CU's run to the Sweet 16 was both magical and unexpected.
No one had the Buffs going this far. They were picked 8th in the Pac-12 preseason media poll.
Buffs head coach JR Payne has taken the Colorado women's basketball team to back-to-back NCAA tournaments, the Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 years and has produced back-to-back 20-plus win seasons.
With success, comes reward -- so i think CU should sign coach Payne to another contract extension.
Right now, her contract goes through the 2025-26 season at an annual salary of around $417k per year. But why not extend her a couple more years, while giving her a pay bump?
Tara VanDerveer at Stanford has made over $2 million annually and UCLA's head coach Cori Close makes $600k a year.
And we've seen this story before here in the Mile High.
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar has been extended three times since 2019, and CSU men's basketball head coach Niko Medved has signed two recent extensions, keeping him in Fort Collins through the 2027 season -- both were extended each time before their contracts had expired.
Payne's ability to both find talent in the transfer portal (Quay Miller and Aaronette Vonleh) and develop young players like Jaylyn Sherrod, Frida Forman and Valor Christian High School alum Kindyll Wetta makes her dynamic.
She's a really good coach and CU should do all it can to keep her in Boulder for a long time.
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