In a bit of shocking news, Oregon extended head basketball coach Ernie Kent's contract through the 2012-2013 season. His salary will be $1.06 million during that period with his assistant coaches also receiving a raise.

The reason this is shocking is that Kent seemed to be on thin ice with the Ducks. It's really no fault of his own: he's taken the Ducks to the NCAA Tournament five times in since 2000 ... including the past two seasons. He has led Oregon to the Elite Eight twice. Only seven coaches from BCS schools have held their job longer than Kent's 11 seasons in Eugene.

He is a very nice recruiter and has overseen a new golden age for an Oregon program that wasn't too good when he got there.

Still, there have been harsh critics. Some say he can't develop the talent of his top recruits and there was that down period from 2004-2006 when the Ducks missed the tournament and once finished with losing record. Kent has also had some person issues that were gossiped about. There are also some very wealthy boosters at Oregon who don't like him (they want Gonzaga's Mark Few ... now!) as they pay for a new arena.

It seems as if Kent will be there for the opening for the new digs ... or those boosters forking over some money to buy Kent out. Either way, he finally has a little room to breathe.