Ryan Theis & Marquette Agree To Contract Extension

In what has to be one of the easiest decisions in Marquette athletic department history, MU announced a new contract extension for volleyball head coach Ryan Theis on Monday afternoon.

In nine seasons with the Golden Eagles, Theis has racked up a record of 212 wins and 67 losses. Yes, that’s accurate. He has a .760 winning percentage to go with his back-to-back Big East regular season titles in 2021 and 2022 as well as the program’s only two Sweet 16 appearances. I did some math on Monday when this was announced. 12% of Ryan Theis’ losses at Marquette are merely “MU did not finish their time in the NCAA tournament as the national champion.” TWELVE PERCENT of his losses are just the eight losses that Marquette has suffered in the NCAA tournament under his direction. That is insane.

Quotes!

Here’s Theis:

“Marquette volleyball has so many exciting things currently happening and on the horizon that I’m excited to be a part of,” Theis said. “Thanks to Bill Scholl, President (Dr. Michael) Lovell, (Executive Vice President and COO) Joel Pogodzinski and (Executive Associate Athletics Director) Danielle Josetti for helping our program be successful and allowing me to lead it.”

And Athletic Director Bill Scholl:

“We are very happy that Ryan and his family have chosen to build on the tremendous momentum within the Marquette women’s volleyball program,” Scholl said. “At a time when the sport is seeing increased popularity and visibility, Ryan has pushed Marquette into the national conversation. His teams are high achieving, both on the court and in the classroom, and we look forward to what’s to come for the program with Ryan leading it.”

The only thing that’s not expressly spelled out in the press release is exactly when Theis’ old contract was set to expire. They’re just saying “signed through 2028” and nothing about the actual terms of the extension. I’m guessing this is more of a “tacking a few years on” or a “tore up the old contract and started with a new six years” situation as opposed to Theis standing around waiting to find out if he was still going to be the coach next fall.

2023 figures to be a pretty big year for the Golden Eagles, as will only be looking to replace libero Carly Skrabak from the core pieces that reached the Sweet 16 in 2022. The full schedule has yet to be announced, but we do know that Marquette will be hosting Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum. Make sure you’ve got your credit card ready when those tickets go on sale at some point next spring/summer.