Clemson College

 Keith Richard will return as basketball coach at Louisiana Tech next year and will receive a contract extension in the near future.

Richard's status was clouded, despite a 20-win campaign in 2005-06, because of several off-the-court issues, but athletics director Jim Oakes said the school has looked at those issues and is comfortable with what they found.  The most serious of the issues was Tech's inclusion in a cbssportsline.com investigative piece, linking the Bulldog basketball program with D1 Scheduling, a company founded by Los Angeles Community College coach Mike Miller. According to the report, Miller delivered players to certain schools that paid to have the company arrange games. Last season Tech had two players from LACC ? Michael Wilds and Chad McKenzie. D1 Scheduling had arranged for Tech to play in the Iowa State tournament next year.

But Oakes said after investigating the matter, he is satisfied that Richard and the basketball program did nothing wrong. He also said they have contacted Iowa State officials and intend to pull out of the tournament.

"We've closely examined the issues raised in the cbssportsline.com article and there have not been any NCAA violations discovered here or at the other schools mentioned in the article,'' Oakes said. "Keith has repeatedly reassured us his scheduling of games had nothing to do with the recruitment of any players.''

Richard, who just completed his eighth season as head coach and 12th overall at Tech, led the Bulldogs to a tie for second place in the Western Athletic Conference this past season plus a berth in the NIT. Clemson  defeated Tech in the first round of the NIT.

"I've stood behind my stance all along and we're ready to move on," Richard said. "We're talking about extending my contract and I'm glad to hear that."

Richard enters next season in the final year of his contract. Richard was hired in 1998 to replace Jim Wooldridge and operated his first season without a contract. After guiding Tech to a 19-9 record his first year, he was rewarded with a five-year deal.

After the 2001-02 season, Richard guided Tech to a 22-10 record and 14-4 record its first season in the WAC. The Bulldogs earned a berth to the NIT and advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Villanova. After that season Richard signed a five-year extension, which runs out after next year.

According to Oakes, they are working on a one-year extension that would tie Richard to the school through the 2007-08 season, but would not include a raise.