Another ISU coach gets a new contract

One day after giving their men’s basketball coach a new contract, Iowa State University announced a new deal for Iowa State women’s coach Bill Fennelly. Fennelly signed a new contract that will pay him 250-thousand dollars a year through 2008. The new contract replaces the old deal that paid Fennelly 160-thousand dollars a year. The new contract is a reward for Fennelly who took the perennial losing program to the Big Twelve Championship and four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.Fennelly says Athletic Director Gene Smith and the university have done what it takes to make I-S-U a winner.The Cyclones will host St. Francis Friday in the first round of the tournament. If they win two games in Ames they could move on to play in Kansas City, where they won the Big Twelve Tournament last weekend. Fennelly says they aren’t looking that far down the road.The top four seeds in the tournament get to host the first two rounds of the tournament. Some people believe the women’s tournament should move to neutral sites for the first round, but Fennelly isn’t one of them. He doesn’t think fans would show up at a site where they didn’t have a team playing. Fennelly says allowing teams to host is a reward for a good regular season.Iowa State plays in the second game Friday night following the game between Illinois and Utah.