Though speculation had swirled for days, UL-Lafayette confirmed in a press conference Monday that Bob Marlin will be the 13th head men's basketball coach in school history.
Though speculation had swirled for days, UL-Lafayette confirmed in a press conference Monday that Bob Marlin will be the 13th head men's basketball coach in school history. Marlin, whose job is to turn the ailing program around, comes to Louisiana after serving in the same capacity at Sam Houston State, where his record was 225-131 in 12 seasons.
The university is asking the Board of Supervisors for the UL System to approve Marlin's five-year contract worth $275,000 per year, about one-third of which will be subsidized by the Ragin' Cajun Athletic Foundation, according to UL Sports Information.
The Advertiser reported that 51-year-old Marlin earned $150,000 this past season at Sam Houston. Former Ragin' Cajuns basketball coach Robert Lee had a $175,000 salary package at the time his contract was not renewed by the university. Lee's record in six seasons was 63-92.
"Coach Marlin is an individual that we identified very early in our search," UL Athletic Director David Walker said. "The more we learned about him, the more impressed we were. When people spoke to us about Bob Marlin, they used words like integrity,' disciplinarian' and teacher.'"
Marlin was a finalist for the opening at Auburn and was also being considered at the University of Houston, UTEP and Boise State before ultimately deciding that the Ragin' Cajuns provided the best fit. He was recently named the 2010 District 23 NABC Coach of the Year and is a finalist for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award.
Read more about the hiring of Marlin and his background here.