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Southern and head coach Roman Banks agree to new deal

Southern v Florida

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Al Messerschmidt

After three seasons on the Southern sidelines, head coach Roman Banks will receive a new contract, the school announced on Monday. The extension is pending, but the two sides have agreed in principle to a new deal.

“Today, Southern University has expressed its commitment to the future of the men’s basketball program by investing in me to remain as head coach,” Banks said in a statement. “With a new agreement in place, I am eager to move the men’s basketball program forward while elevating the standard of excellence that we set as a coaching staff when I first arrived in 2011. But none of this would be possible without the relentless efforts of our university administration, athletics director, coaches and, most importantly, our student-athletes.”

Banks is 59-37 in three seasons with the Jaguars, leading them to the 2013 NCAA Tournament where they nearly became the first No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 seed, losing to Gonzaga, 64-58.

He followed up that near upset with the top spot in the SWAC in 2013-2014, but hopes for a return trip to the tournament were dashed in the conference tournament quarterfinals, falling to Prairie View A&M. Since the season came to a close, Banks had been in talks with Texas A&M about becoming Billy Kennedy’s top assistant coach.

Southern returns leading scorer and rebounder Calvin Godfrey and point guard Christopher Hyder, a sophomore point guard who had a 4.3 assist-to-turnover ratio.

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