LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? UALR Director of Athletics Chris Peterson and head basketball coaches Steve Shields and Joe Foley have each had their contracts extended through June 2013, the University announced today. The one-year extensions come on the heels of a 2007-08 season in which both the men's and women's basketball teams won Sun Belt Conference West Division titles.
In his eight years at UALR, Peterson has completely revamped the face of UALR Athletics, overseeing major facility upgrades for the basketball, baseball and volleyball programs. During the 2005-06 season, UALR unveiled the state-of-the-art, 5,600-seat Jack Stephens Center, which was made possible in large part through the efforts of Peterson, who secured a $22.4 million gift ? the largest in school history ? from Jackson T. Stephens. Peterson also managed to secure an anonymous gift of $1.6 million to renovate UALR's baseball facility, since renamed Gary Hogan Field.
In addition, Peterson spearheaded the effort to bring two rounds of the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship to Alltel Arena this past March. All three sessions of the NCAA Tournament games at Alltel Arena, which marked the first time the tournament had been played in the state of Arkansas, were sold out.
In five years at UALR, Shields has guided the Trojans to three Sun Belt Conference division titles and graduated all 16 players who exhausted their eligibility under his watch. The 2004 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, Shields guided UALR to its second-best RPI finish in school history in 2004-05 (64th overall). In 2007-08, Shields led the Trojans to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Semifinals and a 20-11 record, the program's first 20-win season since 1995-96. He is 82-65 in five seasons as head coach (.558 winning percentage) and currently sits fourth on UALR's all-time list for coaching victories.
Foley took over the reigns of the women's basketball program prior to the start of the 2003-04 season and has completely reversed the fortunes of a team which went 5-23 prior to his arrival. Under Foley's guidance, the women's basketball team has put together back-to-back 20-win seasons, culminating in a 23-9 record in 2007-08 which included a pair of firsts for the program, as the Trojans won their first Sun Belt Conference West Division title and earned a trip to the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Over the last two years, Foley's team has compiled an impressive 44-19 record for a .698 winning percentage.
