LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville coach Jeff Walz has agreed to a contract extension through the 2028-29 season.
The university announced the extension on Friday but did not release any details of the contract.
In a release from the school, Walz thanked the athletic department and school officials for recognizing his program’s success. The 15-year coach, 410-112 at the school with three women's Final Four appearances and four Atlantic Coast Conference regular season titles, said in a release that he was excited as when he arrived and praised his staff and players.
“It is the players who have made this a perennially elite women’s basketball program,” Walz added. “And it’s the relationships developed with those players, both past and present, that is most important to me.”
The Cardinals (25-4) will begin NCAA Tournament play Friday night against No. 16 seed Albany (23-9) with their third No. 1 seeding in the past four trips.
The Cardinals were stunned in the ACC Tournament with a buzzer-beater loss to Miami. The Hurricanes scored the game's final 17 points to stun No. 4 seed Louisville 61-59.
Louisville led 59-44 with 5:44 left, only to see the seventh-seeded Hurricanes stage a frantic rally that abruptly turned what looked set to be a Louisville win into a stunning reversal.
"Everything that we needed to do to allow them to come back in the game, we did," said Louisville head coach Jeff Walz.
The Cardinals still ended up as a #1 seed for the Women's 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Walz's extension was announced the same day the school introduced new men's basketball coach Kenny Payne.