Lenstension: Forrester's contract extended

In a somewhat surprising revelation, Director of Athletics Brad Hewitt announced at the men's basketball banquet earlier this week that Head Coach Lennox Forrester has had his contract extended for three more years. His contract hasn't expired yet, but it's nice to get things like this out of the way.

Terms of the deal are not disclosed, but Forrester will be sticking around.

A lot of people wanted to give Forrester the axe, basically because they are impatient. I don't know if Lennox has proven anything to us to show that he is a phenomenal coach, but then again he hasn't really done anything to show he is terrible either. He knows how to recruit, keeps the guys in check for the most part, has a solid supporting staff and his team won 10 games last season, which shows how much the team has progressed.

I don't think everyone realizes just how tough of a job Forrester has here, and plenty of other coaches I have interviewed in the past have attested to it.

You can't expect a Division II team, which SIUE was four years ago to immediately win 20 games. Everything is different now, and SIUE has had to go through a very challenging rebuilding project over the past few years. Let's remember, this is college. You don't get the number one draft pick for sucking. You have to go out and get players on your own. Instead of 29 other teams you are dealing with over 340. In hindsight, it's a miracle SIUE was as good as they were last year, which isn't saying much.

"Lennox brought great values to our program; values like commitment, dedication, accountability, hard work, and character," Hewitt said in a university press release. "He has successfully transferred those values to our student-athletes."

 

"I want to thank Dr. Hewitt and Chancellor (Vaughn) Vandegrift for their continued support in me, in allowing me to run this program," Forrester said. "The commitment is there to get this program where it needs to be."

I will have to agree with Hewitt on his use of adjectives. Stability is another thing, and it is nice to have that guy be the face of your program for a number of years. With Amanda Levens out, the women's team no longer has that firm foundation. The men's team is starting to develop it with Lennox.

We are seeing a gradual improvement back to where this program should be, and I think that is along the same lines of in-conference competitiveness we saw in the Division II days. Lennox might not get us to the Elite Eight, but I can honestly see him taking this team to the tournament at some point. It might not be next year even, but it is going to happen.

They will have a good shot at it next year with Mark Yelovich playing his senior season.

Lennox' first season with the Cougars was their last as a Division II school. That team went 17-11 and 10-9 in the GLVC. I would think that's about where this team should be on an annual basis in Division I.

Overall, I'm happy with Forrester's extension. Share your thoughts here as well. 

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