May 6, 2008
ARLINGTON, Texas - - The University of Texas at Arlington and men's basketball coach Scott Cross have agreed on a contract extension that will keep the 33-year-old former Mavericks player and assistant coach under contract until the 2011-2012 season, university officials announced Monday.
Cross led UT Arlington to a school-record 21 victories last season and guided the Mavericks to their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. The Mavericks also won a school-record 17 consecutive games at home.
The new contract has been approved by University President James D. Spaniolo and will be sent to the UT System Board of Regents for review and approval.
"We appreciate the efforts and accomplishments of Coach Cross and his staff - not just in the uprecedented success we had last season, but the overall strides our program has taken academically and athletically under his leadership," said UT Arlington Director of Athletics Pete Carlon. "We're very happy, and I'm sure our fans are equally excited, that we could put together a deal that will keep him around until 2012."
Cross has been a player, assistant coach and head coach at UTA.
He played for the Mavericks from 1995-98 and excelled on the court and in the classrom, scoring 11.8 points per game as a senior and being named to the GTE/College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America Second Team.
He was an assistant coach at UTA for eight years before being name head coach on April 21, 2006.
Last season, the second year of Cross's tenure, UTA got off to an 8-0 start and defeated a school-record six Division I universities in the non-conference season. That included victories on the road against Wichita State and Arkansas-Little Rock. UTA also reached a ranking of No. 14 in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 - the first national ranking of any kind for the program.
"I'm extremely excited about the commitment the university is making to the program, not just with a contract extension for me, but for all the support we're getting from Mr. Carlon and President Spaniolo as we continue to build this program," Cross said. "My staff and I feel fortunate to be at UTA, and we will continue to work as hard as we possibly can to elevate our level of play, remain committed in the classroom and reach out to the community. I have been around UTA men's basketball for more than a decade, and there is no better time than right now to be a Maverick."
