Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Wyoming extends Larry Shyatt’s contract through 2019

Wyoming v UNLV

Getty Images

Getty Images

Wyoming and its head coach Larry Shyatt agreed to a contract extension through the 2018-2019 season, the school announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Shyatt becomes the fifth Mountain West head coach to receive a new deal this offseason behind Boise State’s Leon Rice, New Mexico’s Craig Neal, UNLV’s Dave Rice and Fresno State’s Rodney Terry, who made his extension official on Monday.

The new, five-year deal gives Shyatt a base salary of $205,008 for next season. His guaranteed compensation package for 2014-2015 will be north of $700,000. Shyatt returned to Laramie in 2011, and is 59-41 in three seasons with the Cowboys, posting two 20-win seasons in that span. He began his head coaching career at Wyoming in 1997, leaving for Clemson after a 19-9 record.

“We are pleased that we have been able to instill a winning culture, both in the way our team members perform academically and on the court,” Shyatt said in a statement. “We are certainly not satisfied with where our program is at, and our goal is to move our program into the upper echelon of the Mountain West. For us, it is about building a successful program, not simply building a winning team.”

Entering next season, San Diego State will be the Mountain West favorite followed by the likes of UNLV, New Mexico, Boise State, Colorado State with a potential darkhorse being Fresno State given its young talent. Wyoming can remain competitive in conference if senior forward Larry Nance Jr. can fully recover from an ACL tear. Without Nance -- 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game -- the team’s offense struggled, and its season went in a tailspin, dropping six of the last seven games of the season. In March, Shyatt said Nance was on track to be ready for the start of practice this fall.

Wyoming finished sixth in the Mountain West standings with an 18-15 (9-9 MWC) record.

Follow @terrence_payne