MAC coach of the year Bob Boldon signed an extension until 2020 — for a price.
The Ohio women’s basketball program has its leader for the long haul — as long as it can keep him.
Bob Boldon signed a two-year extension on top of his current deal earlier this month, which could keep the reigning Mid-American Conference coach of the year in Athens through 2020.
Boldon has also received a pay raise, upping his annual base salary to $200,000 per season, according to his amended contract.
During his first two years in Athens, Boldon earned $170,000 before incentives. He earned an additional $13,000 after leading Ohio to a winning record and MAC regular season and tournament titles this year.
Technically Ohio’s second-year coach is obligated to stay until April 1, 2020. That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t other schools interested in Boldon, who has seemingly ushered in a new era of success for the Bobcats.
Ohio finished the 2012-13 season — its last under former coach Semeka Randall — with a 6-23 record, the worst in program history.
Over the past three seasons, Boldon has been named conference coach of the year twice.
The first accolade came while he was coaching Youngstown State, a member of the Horizon League. He improved the Penguins from 0-30 in 2009-10, the season before he got there, to 23-10 in his third year.
Boldon will receive a $30,000 retention bonus if he coaches the Bobcats through the 2018 season, when his original contract was set to expire.
“He’s done a great job, obviously,” Ohio Director of Athletics Jim Schaus said at the MAC Tournament. “Bob had had a great career and done some amazing things before he came here. He has a system that he put together. It’s remarkable to go from nine to 27 wins in a year.
“He’s really had these girls shooting. That’s an area I saw them work on all summer. It was just shooting, shooting, shooting. We went from being one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the conference to being fourth in the country.”
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Boldon is quick to say that Ohio’s success is the result of efforts from everyone on the Bobcats’ roster. He even went as far as saying he doesn’t deserve recognition because he doesn’t take the shots.
That’s why it’s no surprise that Boldon’s amended contract includes benefits for his players and staff, as well.
The contract states that Ohio Athletics will begin a fundraising campaign to collect at least $25,000 for renovations to the team’s locker room within the next year.
The three full-time assistants, Kate Bruce, Tavares Jackson and Mary Evans — as well as director of basketball operations Marwan Miller — will also be given a $1,000 bonus for their help leading the Bobcats to their first MAC outright title since 1985-86.
Athletics also will put down new carpet in the women’s basketball offices within the next year.
“I’m fortunate to be in a good place,” Boldon said this past weekend. “It’s just a wonderful place to be.”
He said the Bobcats’ NCAA Tournament berth was a step in the right direction for the program.
“Hopefully it’s something that we can continue to build on and make sure it’s not 20 years before we come back to this thing,” he said.
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohio.edu
