Idaho State’s men’s basketball team has its head man for the next several seasons.
Head coach Ryan Looney has signed a contract extension through the summer of 2027, ISU announced Friday afternoon, committing to its head coach for at least another five years.
“We have the right coach to lead the men’s basketball program for years to come,” ISU athletic director Pauline Thiros said in a press release. “We are serious about our goals of increasing our investment in student athletes, and providing coaches with the stability they need to build programs in the right way — in a sustainable way. Ryan is building not only his program, but is an excellent culture leader in our department who cares about all of our student athletes. We share his commitment to winning and to a great student athlete experience. I look forward to competing for championships with Coach Looney.”
Looney, hired in April 2019 and currently coaching his fourth season with the Bengals, has led the team to one winning year, which came in 2020-21, when ISU went 13-11. In his first season, Idaho State produced an 8-22 record, winning its first Big Sky tournament game before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the world. The Bengals won seven games last year and this season, they’re off to a 7-12 start, complete with a 4-2 conference record.
“My family and I are grateful to Idaho State University, athletic director Pauline Thiros and president Kevin Satterlee,” Looney said via release. “Our staff looks forward to continuing to build our program. This commitment will allow us time to bring this community what it deserves. A men’s basketball program that Pocatello and our campus can be proud of.”
This winter, the Bengals completed a 3-10 non-conference slate, with five losses by five points or fewer. They opened Big Sky play with three straight wins, though, topping Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado (in overtime) and Weber State in order. Last weekend, they dropped games to Montana and Montana State, only to hang on and beat Sacramento State on Thursday night.
The Bengals are off to their best start in conference play since that 2020 season, which was played without fans, and often, teams played each other on back-to-back occasions to limit travel and exposure to the virus. To find the last time ISU started so well under normal circumstances, you have to go all the way back to the 2008-09 season, when the team also won four of its first six conference games. One of that team’s players was Matt Stucki — who is now Highland’s head boys basketball coach.
Next up for ISU (7-12, 4-2 Big Sky) and Looney is Saturday’s home game against Portland State.
When Looney was first hired, Idaho State signed him to a three-year deal, which is the maximum length allowed without State Board of Education approval. Soon after, though, ISU worked with the board to add two more years to Looney’s deal. Now the Bengals have added another five years to Looney’s contract.
Greg Woods is a sports reporter at the Idaho State Journal. Follow him on Twitter at GregWWoods.
This coaching hire has been amongst the worst in ISUs horrible last 40 year run. Last year with many veterans returning they were projected to be in the top 4 of the conference but ended up at dead last in the conference & 7-23 overall and they got worse and worse as the season went on, not better. This year they lost every single non conference D1 game except one with one of the easiest non conference schedules in the nation against some of the very worst D1 teams. They won a few close games this year against the worst of a very down Big Sky and suddenly he gets a 5 year extension with a 7-13 overall record! Attendance is close to record lows which confirms he has lost the fans and its time to move on. A 5 year extension at this point is about the worst basketball decision I can remember in the past 20-30 years of record futility/losing. Pauline might be a decent fundraiser, but she knows nothing about hiring the right basketball and football coaches (Football coach lasted 1 year after getting dead last in the league), which is really by far the most important job of an AD. It looks like its time for a new AD with experience hiring winners, something we havn't seen at ISU largely for many decades.
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This coaching hire has been amongst the worst in ISUs horrible last 40 year run. Last year with many veterans returning they were projected to be in the top 4 of the conference but ended up at dead last in the conference & 7-23 overall and they got worse and worse as the season went on, not better. This year they lost every single non conference D1 game except one with one of the easiest non conference schedules in the nation against some of the very worst D1 teams. They won a few close games this year against the worst of a very down Big Sky and suddenly he gets a 5 year extension with a 7-13 overall record! Attendance is close to record lows which confirms he has lost the fans and its time to move on. A 5 year extension at this point is about the worst basketball decision I can remember in the past 20-30 years of record futility/losing. Pauline might be a decent fundraiser, but she knows nothing about hiring the right basketball and football coaches (Football coach lasted 1 year after getting dead last in the league), which is really by far the most important job of an AD. It looks like its time for a new AD with experience hiring winners, something we havn't seen at ISU largely for many decades.
Looney has no presence in the community. I have never seen him at any public events. Maybe if he were out more, the attendance might improve.
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