Thursday, July 09, 2009

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After leading the JU men's basketball program to the postseason for the first time since 1987, head coach Cliff Warren had his contract extended through the end of the 2012-13 season.

In his four seasons at JU, Warren and his staff have revived the Dolphins with three straight winning seasons, the school’s first conference title since 1986 and a trip to the NIT this past year.

“Cliff has done an exceptional job with our men’s basketball program and has raised our program's visibility nationally,” said JU director of athletics Alan Verlander. “Cliff is following the plan he and I laid out four years ago to bring the tradition of JU basketball back. Therefore, it is my job to make sure that we do our best to keep him at JU and give our program the resources to take our program even higher.”

After winning just one game in his first season as head coach, Warren has built the Dolphins into one of the top programs in the Atlantic Sun Conference – becoming the first team in the modern era of Division I to win a conference championship within three years of winning just one game.

While there has been success on the court, the Dolphins have also excelled in the classroom. After inheriting a two scholarship penalty due to a low Academic Progress Report score, Warren and his staff have rebuilt JU’s APR above 925, the benchmark set by the NCAA for progress towards degree and graduation rate.