San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher has signed a contract extension that will keep him on the bench through the 2027-28 men’s basketball season.
The 2019-20 USA Today National Coach of the Year, who guided the Aztecs to the 2023 NCAA Tournament National Championship game, is in his seventh season as head coach at SDSU and his 25th campaign on the Mesa.
Dutcher thanked San Diego State President Adela de la Torre and Athletic Director John David Wicker “for the opportunity to continue to mentor and lead the outstanding young men that we have in our program,” while also mentioning retired head coach Steve Fisher, who he followed to SDSU, and his assistant coaches.
“I got into coaching to affect the lives of young people and to be able to do it at a school and in a city I love, is all anyone can ask for,” Dutcher said in a news release.
The five-year extension follows the greatest season in Aztec history, one that featured the program’s 16th Mountain West title and SDSU’s and the conference’s first wins in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final Four. The team is 22-8 this year and expected to again make the tournament.
“Dutch has been an integral part to building the successful basketball program we have today and last year’s run to the national championship was a defining moment for him and our institution,” Wicker said. But more than success on the floor, Dutch has built a program based on bringing young men in who also excel in the classroom and the community.”
No head coach before Dutcher has won 21 or more games in each of his first seven seasons or compiled more victories to date, 173. Dutcher’s 75.9% winning percentage also is the best in program history.
In his time as head coach, Dutcher also has been named the the U.S. Basketball Writers Association District IX Coach of the Year, National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I District 17 Coach of the Year and Mountain West Coach of the Year.
