Posted at 7:42 a.m., Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Air Force coach taking over Colorado basketball
By Arnie Stapleton
Associated Press
Bzdelik, who had two successful seasons at Air Force, agreed to a deal worth $750,000 annually plus incentives, Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn said.
At Air Force, Bzdelik had a 50-16 record with an NCAA tournament appearance last season and a trip to the NIT final four last week.
''I love the Air Force Academy. I love Colorado,'' Bzdelik said at a news conference. ''I am very blessed (that) I had two great, great opportunities here in a state that I love. My family loves the state.''
Bzdelik said other schools called him, but ''I just told them flat-out no as soon as I took the phone call.''
Colorado paid Air Force $270,000 to buy out Bzdelik, who had four years left on his contract with the Falcons.
Bzdelik replaces Ricardo Patton, who resigned after 11 seasons and was hired as head coach at Northern Illinois last month.
Bzdelik spent 2½ seasons as coach of the Denver Nuggets before accepting the Air Force job. Before that, he served as an assistant at Miami and Washington and as a scout for Denver and the New York Knicks.
