Davidson’s Bob McKillop receives contract extension -- retirement not in his plans

Davidson basketball coach Bob McKillop has signed a contract extension that will keep him at the school for at least the next five years.

Not that the length of the deal really matters.

“Bob can coach here as long as he wants,” Davidson athletics director Chris Clunie told the Observer. “He’s earned that right.”

McKillop, in his 30^th season at Davidson and the school’s all-time winningest coach, signed the five-year extension in November. The deal lasts through the 2022-23 season.

“I’m thrilled to be at Davidson for as long as I have and I’m thrilled with the confidence (Davidson president) Carol Quillen and (Clunie) have shown in me, that I can be associated with Davidson for as long as I want,” McKillop said Friday.

Then McKillop, 68, brushed aside any thoughts of retirement.

“And I have no timetable for when that might be,” he said.

McKillop also received a raise with the extension. While not disclosing a specific number, Clunie said McKillop’s salary is now more in line with other coaches in the Atlantic 10, a league Davidson joined in 2015.

McKillop last signed a contract extension in 2014 at an annual salary of about $400,000, which was among the lowest in the league. The high end of the A-10 salary spectrum now includes at least three coaches – Virginia Commonwealth’s Mike Rhoades, Richmond’s Chris Mooney and Saint Joseph’s Phil Martelli – who reportedly make more than $1 million annually.

Several other A-10 coaches – none of them with nearly the experience or success McKillop has achieved – make in the $600,000-to-$800,000 range, where McKillop is now.

“Everybody knows he’s been vastly underpaid, at the bottom of the A-10,” said Clunie, who is in his first year as Davidson’s athletics director. “Davidson just never took that step to elevate him to where he should be. It’s still not where it should be now, but it gets him out from the bottom of the A-10. What he’s worth versus the impact he’s had, we haven’t been able to pay that. But this is a long time coming.”

McKillop has a career record of 573-347. He is one of five active coaches in Division I to have at least 500 victories at the only school he’s coached, a list that also includes Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Oakland’s Greg Kampe, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Gonzaga’s Mark Few.

McKillop’s Wildcats (19-6, 10-3 A-10) are having another successful season, sitting in second place in the conference. They play at Rhode Island (12-13, 5-8) Friday.

This story was originally published February 21, 2019 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Davidson’s Bob McKillop receives contract extension -- retirement not in his plans."