A three-year contract extension, a raise, a bonus and a host of incentives for University of Northern Colorado men’s basketball coach Steve Smiley will be recommended to the university board of trustees later this week.
Smiley, 44, will start his sixth season this year as the program’s winningest head coach in the Division I era. His overall record is 89-71 with two seasons of 20 or more wins.
The Bears in 2024-25 won 25 games, the second most in program history, and earned a bid to the National Invitation Tournament for the first time. UNC won 15 games in the Big Sky Conference, shared the regular-season title and reached the conference tournament championship game.
Smiley was voted the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in March 2024 when the Bears finished the regular season 19-12 overall and were the second seed for the conference tournament.
The contract recommendation calls for increasing Smiley’s base salary by almost 14% to $185,251 per year with a guarantee through 2029, extending the contract by three years through June 2030, revising incentives and adding donor-funded retention bonuses. Among the incentives in the new deal is additional money for qualifying for the NCAA Tournament and top-four finishes in the Big Sky Conference regular-season standings.
The UNC board of trustees will consider the recommendation at its regular meeting scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Friday at the Campus Commons multipurpose hall at UNC.
If approved, the new contract will take effect July 1.
Smiley’s original contract dated November 2022 gave a base salary of $161,646 annually and was to expire April 2027.
University of Northern Colorado head mens basketball coach Steve Smiley directs his team while playing against Idaho at Bank of Colorado Arena on Saturday Feb. 22, 2025.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Smiley was hired in March 2020 to replace Jeff Linder, who left UNC for the head coaching job at the University of Wyoming. Smiley was promoted after four seasons as the associate head coach under Linder.
The nine incentives in the new contract are:
$2,500 if the team qualifies for the NCAA Tournament $2,500 if the team finishes in the top four, including ties, in the Big Sky regular season standings $1,000 if the team wins the Big Sky regular season title $2,500 if the team GPA is at or above 2.80 during the fall semester for each academic year of the term of the contract $2,500 if team GPA is at or above 2.80 during the spring semester for each academic year of the term of the contract $2,500 for the men’s basketball student-athlete annual academic performance at or above a 950 of the NCAA Academic Performance Rate, which is a metric of academic success measuring student athletes receiving athletic-related financial aid $2,500 if the team has 80% of the eligible student-athletes graduate similar to the Graduation Success Rate, which is an NCAA metric looking at students who come into school on athletics-related aid and if they graduate within six years. The university will set the graduation rate based on the past three years of those student athletes on the team, not counting transfer eligible or graduate transfers. $1,500 is a men’s basketball player is named to the NCAA Academic All-America team $2,500 for players and staff meeting athletic director expectations in marketing and community services activities through the academic year. Northern Colorado men's basketball coach Steve Smiley cuts a piece of a net from a basket at Bank of Colorado Arena on Tuesday, March 4, 2025 in Greeley. Smiley, the UNC players and team staff celebrated the Bears winning a share of the Big Sky Conference regular-season title with a road win Monday night at Weber State. Members of the UNC Athletic Department and men's basketball boosters welcomed the team home Tuesday afternoon for a celebration of the Big Sky title and clinching the top seed for the conference tournament March 8-12 in Boise, Idaho. (Anne Delaney/Staff Reporter).Smiley will receive a $30,000 retention bonus if employed on June 30 of each year of the new contract. The bonus will come from donated funds.
The agreement also says Smiley will earn an additional $30,000 on June 30, 2025, and 2026, meaning a cumulative bonus of $60,000 on those dates — if donated funds are available from the men’s basketball foundation.
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