Texas Basketball: There is ‘decreasing optimism’ Rodney Terry keeps job

Texas basketball wrapped up their 2022/23 regular season on Senior Day inside the Moody Center on Saturday with a 75-59 win over No. 3 Kansas.

The Horns finished the regular season with a 23-8 (12-6) record and in sole position of second place in the Big 12. It was the best regular season for Texas basketball since the 2010/11 season when the Longhorns finished with a 25-6 record.

This season has not been without national storylines, most notably that of the firing of former head coach Chris Beard.

When it was announced Beard was indefinitely suspended on Dec. 12, longtime Longhorn assistant and former UTEP head coach Rodney Terry took the interim head coach title. Though it’s been a group effort with assistant coaches Brandon Chappell, Bob Donewald Jr, Chris Ogden, and Steve McClain in prominent roles, Terry has been the man that rallied this Longhorn team to their best regular season in over a decade.

While the Texas program and its fans are focused on the Big 12 Tournament, and, more importantly, the NCAA Tournament, national speculation about the fate of interim head coach Rodney Terry has been rampant.

Updates arrive last week for Rodney Terry and the Texas basketball coaching job

On the Friday, Feb. 24 edition of the CBS Sports “Eye On College Basketball” podcast, co-host Matt Norlander dropped some sourced information that does not bode well for Terry’s future in Austin.

"“Just a little Texas nugget. I mean, there is decreasing optimism that Rodney Terry has any chance to keep that job. I think he needs to win the Big 12, and I really think he may need to make the Final Four in order to do it. The slope is steep and I think that Terry and everyone around that program realizes that at this point.”"

(52:37 – 55:04)

This is very interesting news considering Terry led the Longhorns to their most successful regular season in over a decade. Since Terry took over as an interim head coach on Dec. 12, the Longhorns are 16-7 with five top-25 wins. Texas is one of two teams in the country ranked in the top 20 of KenPom’s offensive and defensive efficiency metrics.

We will have plenty of time to discuss whether athletic director Chris Del Conte should keep Terry or explore other options. For now, the only thought on coaches, players, and fans’ minds should be the success of the current iteration of this team in March.

To Texas basketball fans, I say this. Whether or not you want Terry to keep the job going forward should not distract you from the fact this team has a shot to achieve what few Texas teams in the past have achieved.

The Longhorns will likely be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008. This puts them in a great position to reach the second weekend for the first time since that same season, and potentially a Final Four for the fourth time in program history.

Let’s leave the offseason fodder to the offseason and enjoy these final games of the 2022/23 season as this veteran-laden team looks to add themselves to the college basketball history books with a run in March.