• UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball coach Bart Lundy signed a five-year contract extension through the 2029-30 season.
• Lundy has led the Panthers to three consecutive 20-win seasons and a 63-38 overall record.
• Despite losing key players to the transfer portal, Lundy and UWM aim to build on their recent success and compete for an NCAA tournament berth.

In this day and age when uncertainty reigns in college basketball with the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness having changed the game in so many ways, the UW-Milwaukee men’s team can now count on some long-term stability at a very important position.

Head coach.

Bart Lundy, who is the first coach since Bruce Pearl (2004-07) to lead the Panthers to three consecutive 20-win seasons, has signed a five-year contract extension that will keep him at UWM through the 2029-30 season.

It’s a pact that will pay the 53-year-old Lundy $430,000 annually, up from the $350,000 he had been making on the deal he originally signed in March 2022, and includes a number of lump-sum incentives for individual and team achievements.

“‘If we can keep him, we’re going to do it,’” is how director of athletics Amanda Braun described the thinking in pre-emptively constructing and presenting Lundy with the extension, which was finalized in closed session by the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents last week.

“In the last three years we’ve solidified a really strong foundation – and not just competitively. He makes great decisions. He brings in great young men. He’s got a stable staff that we’ve worked hard to keep together. For me, that right there is exactly what we need for our future.

“Yeah, we hoped we would perform better, finish the season differently this year, but that’s OK. It’s a couple swings here and there, and that stuff happens. But it’s not a flash in the pan. Twenty-three years as a head coach.

“He’s legit.”

The gesture meant a lot to Lundy, who has gone 63-38 (.642 winning percentage) overall and 40-20 (.667) in Horizon League play – tops over that span for any current coach in the conference – during his time on the East Side.

“It shows my commitment to being here for the long haul,” Lundy said. “And the way that I operate is, when people show loyalty, I try to be at least that loyal, if not multiplied. So, the fact that Milwaukee wants me to be their basketball coach, and they’re committed to me, that means the world to me and makes me not only energized but determined to prove them right and to do everything within my power to make this the best possible basketball program for the university.”

Lundy and the Panthers recently concluded a 22-11 campaign that was equal parts gratifying and frustrating as after being picked to win the Horizon League in the preseason, they finished tied for second in the regular-season standings at 14-6.

That was good enough to earn a first-round bye in the Horizon League tournament, but third-seeded UWM opted to play its quarterfinal home game against sixth-seeded Oakland on campus at the Klotsche Center and ultimately fell by a score of 72-64.

It was the second time in as many years the Golden Grizzlies ended the Panthers’ season; in 2024 UWM advanced to the Horizon League tournament title game in Indianapolis and led Oakland with under 3 minutes to play before running out of gas and losing, 83-76.

Coming that close to its first NCAA tournament berth since 2014 and not cashing in was immensely disappointing. Now, after taking that body blow this past season, Lundy left no doubt it has to be March Madness or bust for the program moving forward.

“That’s the next step, without a doubt. And we’re right there,” he said. “With the turnover and rosters, it becomes more difficult to say, ‘Hey, we’re building toward that,’ because you’re going to have some roster turnover, you’re going to lose some of your players, and most likely, your best players.

“But so is everyone else at our level. All 15 of the all-league guys are gone (in the transfer portal). We’ve had the same staff all three years, so we’re finding a way to have consistency there, knock on wood. And then if we can maintain pushing forward with our administration and stay right on the edge of all the things that are happening fast in college basketball, I feel great that we’ll be at the top of the Horizon League.”

Indeed, Lundy will once again need to rebuild after losing his top five scorers – three to the portal (Themus Fulks, Jamichael Stillwell and Erik Pratt) and two to completed eligibility (AJ McKee, Kentrell Pullian).

The losses of Fulks, UWM’s scoring and assists leader, and Stillwell, one of the nation’s leading rebounders who was named first team all-Horizon League and the conference’s newcomer of the year, to Central Florida for lucrative NIL deals leave especially large voids to fill.

While strides have been made in terms of resources for keeping players on campus with the Panther Future Fund, the reality is Lundy and UWM will continue to face an uphill battle to keep players they identify and develop when larger programs can offer far more money and exposure.

“I do see those challenges,” said Lundy, who also lost star BJ Freeman to Arizona State last offseason.

“I think they’re enormous challenges. We don’t have some of the things in place with revenue sharing that obviously a lot of universities are going to have. But at the same time, I’m doggedly optimistic that we have the right pieces in place to compete and that we will find a way to attack these challenges one way or another.

“It may not be as easy as some others have it, but I think our administration is on the right page. And we have good synergy with everything going on in the city, and I believe that we’ll be able to surmount any challenges at our level that we’ll face.”

Braun believes Lundy is uniquely qualified to continue navigating the madness.

“Being a head coach right now with everything you have to deal with is just incredibly difficult,” she said. “He has that foundation to build on with this craziness. He knows the decisions to make. He knows what to pay attention to, what not to pay attention to. What to deal with and tolerate and what not to, and and that goes a long way in a long season.

“These are young people you’re dealing with, and he just has a great feel that way. I trust his judgment.”

Under terms of his extension, Lundy can also increase his base salary if the team meets certain grade-point-average requirements and finishes first through third in conference play. There are also retention bonuses possible each year if the team meets GPA requirements and finishes in the top eight in the league.

If Lundy accepts another collegiate or professional basketball coaching position, there would be a buyout amount of $450,000 if he leaves between May 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026; $350,000 between May 1, 2026 and April 30, 2027; and $250,000 between May 1, 2027 and April 30, 2028.

UWM also has the right to reduce or waive a buyout at its discretion.

“The building blocks are in place,” Braun said. “We’ll just keep, one step at a time, putting the right things in place and making the best decisions we can.”