A successful debut season by Dean Hood has led Murray State to extend the coach and his entire staff. Hood is now under contract through the 2024 campaign, while his staff signed extensions keeping them in place through 2022.
Hood led the Racers to a 5-2 mark and a second place finish in the Ohio Valley Conference. Sounds like a good/not great season until you place it in context:
-- It was Murray State's first winning OVC record since 2011.
-- Murray State finished second in the OVC for the first time since 2004.
-- The Racers' 5-0 start was their first since 1995.
-- Murray State's six consecutive AP Top 25 rankings broke a "near decade" drought.
-- Thirteen All-OVC honorees represented the second-highest total in program history.
On the field, Murray State's 142-yard rushing average was the program's highest since 2013, and its 0.7 sacks per game allowed represented a 73 percent decrease from the program's average over the last five years.
So, it's no wonder Murray State locked Hood up for the next four years.
He won the Ohio Valley coach of the year award, becoming the second coach in league history to win the honor at two separate OVC institutions. The 57-year-old went 55-38 with three playoff appearances from 2008-15 at Eastern Kentucky. He joined the program in 2019 after three seasons as the outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Kentucky.