Panthers lock up coach through 2012

The Open Mat.com

By: Dan McCool – Des Moines Register, Original here
Northern Iowa awarded wrestling coach Brad Penrith with a three-year contract extension Thursday.

The contract runs through June 2012, Panthers athletic director Troy Dannen said.
Penrith, an NCAA champion at Iowa, will keep the same base salary as 2008-09 — or $70,658 — but performance incentives exist in the new contract.

Northern Iowa is 80-63-4 in Penrith’s nine seasons, including 10-6 this season. He has coached wrestlers to all-America honors 13 times and the team has extended its NCAA West Regional winning streak to 24.

“From the time I got on campus, I had a chance to evaluate (Penrith), I had a chance to evaluate the program and I had a chance to evaluate the support we were giving the program,” Dannen said. “I had a chance to talk to a lot of wrestlers, both current era and past era. I was convinced that at the end of the day, Brad’s the guy we need.

“We need to support him better, we need to work towards improving some of the aspects of the program to make his job easier. He’s got a passion for UNI, he understands wrestling, he does a good job with his kids and his kids respect him.”

Northern Iowa finished 22nd in the team standings with 25 points at the NCAA Division I tournament last week in St. Louis. The Panthers produced one all-American, as 165-pounder Moza Fay finished sixth.

“It tells me that we’re doing the right things, we’re meeting expectations,” Penrith said. “It tells me that we want to take this to the next level and Troy wants us to. He’s challenging us to beat the bush, fire the Panther nation up and be supportive of us and what we want to do.”

Penrith said he accepts the challenge.

“When we were out recruiting in the fall, we were telling these recruits that this athletic director and the administration wants us to be good and they’re going to help us be good,” he said.

Penrith said the Panthers are not far from being a top 10 or top 15 program. He said Northern Iowa needs better recruiting depth.

Dannen said neither he nor Penrith are satisfied with the program’s level of competitiveness right now.

“We’ll get there,” Dannen said, “but the fundamentals are in place.”