UH extends Ganot’s contract 2 years

Eran Ganot helmed the Hawaii basketball team’s season of unprecedented success in the face of considerable adversity. Now he has a new mandate: keep this up.

David Matlin, whose hiring of the rookie Ganot in April of 2015 was his first major move as athletic director, made Ganot’s two-year extension as coach through the 2019-20 season official on Wednesday.

Good timing, too. The Rainbow Warriors begin full practices for the 2016-17 season on Friday.

“This is a vote of confidence not just with what we’ve done (last season) but because of the way we’re doing things,” Ganot said. “And I think that’s not going to change moving forward.”

The extension comes with what was described by a source to be a “modest” bump in pay; figures were not yet made available by UH. Ganot, 35, was set to make $240,000 in the final year of his original three-year contract, 2017-18.

The ex-Saint Mary’s and UH assistant inherited a talented pool of players last summer, but one unaccustomed to discipline or a system. Ganot led the Rainbows to their first Big West regular-season and tournament championships — earning conference coach of the year in the process — and ultimately guided them to the program’s winningest season (28-6) and first NCAA Tournament victory in March.

Talks on an extension began soon after, but were not finalized until this week. As to why, both parties said matters like scheduling and recruiting took precedence. And Matlin is still waiting to hear back on UH’s appeal of the NCAA’s postseason ban penalty for the upcoming season.

“We always felt like we were going to get this done; it was a matter of fine-tuning a few things,” Matlin said. “No sticking points. … He’s the guy to lead the program and be a leader in our department.”

Matlin said the extension was granted for the 2015-16 milestones but also to mitigate the difficulties that lie ahead. UH, which saw nearly all of its championship roster scatter in the offseason, must also contend with a two-scholarship penalty for the next two years.

“It provides continuity,” Ganot said. “It allows us the opportunity to stabilize. Because the reality is you can’t build (on) anything that’s not stable.”

Ganot had a base salary of $225,000 in 2015-16. But with several performance bonuses — the BWC regular-season and tourney titles, the conference coach of the year award, and the national Joe B. Hall Award for first-year coaches — he earned an additional $75,000, bringing him to an even $300,000.

“Last year his bonus was pretty good,” Matlin said. “He hit a lot of the targets. And we were very happy to have him hit those targets.”

By comparison, former coach Gib Arnold — who was cited heavily in UH’s NCAA infractions — made a base of $240,000 in his first season (2010-11). He parlayed 19 wins into a new three-year deal worth $344,000 annually under then-athletic director Jim Donovan.