UTEP Men’s Basketball Coach Rodney Terry Receives Extension, ABC-7 Reports

Budget cuts have rocked the college athletics world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thus prompting furloughs and salary cuts across the country. Football coach Dana Dimel and men's basketball coach Rodney Terry—UTEP's highest-paid coaches—took a combined $271,000 salary reduction, reported ABC-7.

Terry took a $200,000 cut while Dimel accepted a $71,000 reduction, according to the report.

But upon a closer look at the salary reduction, ABC-7 anchor Erik Elken uncovered that coach Terry received an extension back in October by UTEP Director of Athletics Jim Senter. Dimel, who went 3-5 in 2020, did not receive an extension this fall on his original five-year deal he signed in 2018.

As both coaches signed five-year contracts when they were hired back in 2018, Terry's annual salary figure is $725,000 and Dimel's is $700,000 per year. However, Terry improved on the Miners win total from 8 games in season one to 17 games in season two. That was enough to convince Senter that the team was going in the right direction. The same could not be said for Dimel. "I didn't feel like we were there for football and I told [Coach Dimel] that," Senter told ABC-7.

Originally, ABC-7 reported back in September that certain positions at UTEP would be eliminated, along with furloughs taking place. KFOX-TV reported last November that Senter would be taking 10 days of furlough time. One month later, Senter told ABC-7 that the athletic department was "close" to announcing the amounts that both coaches took in reductions. Thursday's news comes after months of waiting for the contract amendments to be finalized by the university and the coaches respective agents. Senter's original contract which was signed on May 31st 2018 calls for an annual base salary of $300,000 per year. However, the contract began on December 11th 2017 and expires on August 31st 2021.