Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Citadel Basketball Coach Pat Dennis Earns One-Year Contract Extension

CHARLESTON, SC - Citadel Director of Athletics Les Robinson has announced that basketball coach Pat Dennis, whose team this past year had one of the best seasons in recent history, has been awarded a one-year contract extension.

Dennis, who came to The Citadel in 1992, currently has one more season remaining on his initial three-year extension that was awarded after the 1999 campaign. He is under contract to coach the Bulldogs through the 2002-03 season.

"Coach Dennis has earned an extension based on the team's performance this past season," said Robinson, a former Citadel basketball coach himself who is concluding his first year as the school's director of athletics. "I am impressed with Pat and his staff, and they've done a tremendous job of bringing excitement back to McAlister Field House." Robinson stated that he and Dennis had agreed in principle on the extension shortly after the 16-12 season concluded.

The Bulldogs' 2000-01 campaign, which coincided with the school's beginning of the second 100 years of basketball, was one of the best in years. Picked last in the South Division in various preseason polls, The Citadel finished in a tie for second place. The team captured its first tournament championship of any kind in over two decades, winning the Capital City Classic in Tallahassee, Fla. The Citadel played Clemson very tough, losing by only eight points while hauling down an impressive 62 rebounds during the regionally televised game, and had a three-point shot fall the wrong way at the buzzer before bowing to South Carolina by three in McAlister Field House.

The Citadel had exciting wins with buzzer beaters against Georgia Southern and at Chattanooga, and more highlights came when the Bulldogs defeated eventual conference champion UNC Greensboro and perennial threat College of Charleston at home. The Citadel also defeated traditional rivals VMI, Wofford and Furman twice. During the Wofford game on Feb. 3 at McAlister Field House, Dennis earned his 100th career win, which ranks second only to Robinson's 132 career victories for most wins in school history.

Three games at McAlister Field House drew more than 4,000 fans, two of which became the sixth and eighth largest crowds in history, as the Bulldogs finished with a home record of 12-2. The team won five consecutive Southern Conference games in early February, the first time a five-game conference win streak was recorded since the 1960-61 season. In an earlier stretch from mid-December through mid-January, the Bulldogs won seven of nine games helping break Dennis' Citadel record of reaching 10 wins in the quickest amount of time (15 games).

There was only one senior on the team (point guard Mike Roy) and everyone else is expected to return for the 2001-02 season, including rising seniors Alan Puckett and Cliff Washburn, who both earned Southern Conference Player-of-the-Week honors, along with sharpshooter Travis Cantrell, the team's leading scorer (12.4 ppg).

Dennis was pleased with the development of sophomores Romas Krywonis, Michael Joseph and Gregg Jones, and freshman Max Mombollet, which provides the Bulldogs with a nucleus for a solid future. In his nine seasons at The Citadel, Dennis' overall record is 105-142