Kansas signs women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider to new 4-year contract

By Zac Boyer     Mar 9, 2022

Chad Cushing/Kansas Athletics
Kansas women's basketball coach Brandon Schneider during the game against Vanderbilt at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 5, 2021.

Kansas women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider said Wednesday that he never felt any pressure related to his contract ending after this season.

That’s a reality he’ll no longer have to confront.

Schneider, who was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year earlier this week, signed a four-year contract that will keep him at the university through the 2025-26 season.

The contract recognizes a landmark season for the Jayhawks, who went 20-8 during the regular season, including 11-7 in the Big 12, and are on the verge of being selected to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years.

They’ll play their first Big 12 tournament game on Friday, when, as the No. 5 seed, they take on No. 4 seed Oklahoma at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.

“I’m really grateful and appreciative of the confidence demonstrated by our administration … and extremely grateful for the group of young women and the coaching staff that I get to be a part of and work with every day,” Schneider said.

That contract, signed Tuesday and publicized by Kansas on Wednesday, will pay Schneider a base salary of $400,000 per year. He will also receive $140,000 per year contingent upon public relations, promotional, educational and endorsement obligations through the duration of the contract, which begins April 1, and he can earn additional income through incentives, including $50,000 each year Kansas reaches the NCAA Tournament.

Athletic director Travis Goff, who joined Schneider at a press conference to discuss the contract, said formal negotiations over a new contract only began last week. Schneider, 50, signed a five-year contract upon his appointment in 2015, then signed a two-year extension in 2018 that will take him through the end of this season.

“You’re seeing real, profound development and growth with this program and the young women in the program, and so it was just a natural journey,” said Goff, who called Kansas’ performance “one of the great stories in college basketball, men or women, this season.”

The Jayhawks won nine Big 12 games over the last three seasons but finished with their most wins in the conference since 1999-2000, which was also the last time it finished in the top half of the conference standings. They have received votes in the Associated Press poll six times this season and were on the cusp of breaking into the top 25 in mid-February at the end of a record-tying seven-game Big 12 win streak.

Schneider, who was hired in 2015 to replace Bonnie Hendrickson, is 81-123 at Kansas and 25-102 in Big 12 games. He was previously the head coach at Stephen F. Austin for five years and, before that, the head coach at Emporia State for 12.

At Kansas, the momentum has been growing slowly. The Jayhawks finished 8-25 in 2015-16, their first season with Schneider as their coach, and lost all 18 of their conference games. They had their first winning record under him in 2019-20, when they went 15-14 (including 4-14 in the Big 12) and may have been selected to play in the WNIT had the COVID-19 pandemic not canceled the postseason.

The pandemic significantly affected the team last season — four upperclassmen chose to opt out of playing during it — and the Jayhawks finished 7-18, and 3-15 in the Big 12, while losing 13 of their last 14 games.

“That maybe took us off path a little bit, but it didn’t dissuade us from the confidence that was growing,” Schneider said. “When we got everybody together in August, we just had a really good vibe about what this team could accomplish.”

Kansas started this season 9-1, with its only loss to then-No. 11 Tennessee in Las Vegas in late November. It won at Texas on Jan. 12, marking its first road victory over a ranked team in 10 years, and claimed a sweep of Oklahoma State in the regular-season series for the first time in 26 years.

It also beat West Virginia for the first time under Schneider’s guidance — and then beat the Mountaineers again six days later — and celebrated as junior Holly Kersgieter became the first high school player recruited to Kansas by Schneider to reach 1,000 points in a win against Kansas State on Feb. 12.

And on Saturday, the Jayhawks concluded their regular season with a 73-67 win at Oklahoma, giving them 20 regular-season wins for the first time since 1999-2000.

Those accomplishments are among the reasons why Goff decided keeping Schneider was the right move.

“I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to resolidify Brandon and his great staff at the helm of this great program,” Goff said. “I can’t say enough about what they’ve done and how they’ve gone about it, the kind of character development and off-court development, the commitment they have to the young women in this program. And, of course, the X’s and O’s and the literal basketball development and growth that has occurred with this team and with the individuals has been profound.”

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56592Kansas signs women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider to new 4-year contract