UALR athletic director signs extension

Athletic Director Chasse Conque signed a five-year, $178,880 per-year contract extension with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Tuesday, which is set to expire June 30, 2022.

The contract’s incentives include bonuses of: $2,500 each time the men’s or women’s basketball team makes the NCAA Tournament; $1,500 for NIT appearances; $5,000 when revenues from ticket sales, donations and sponsorships reach $3 million; and $6,000 if the university’s NCAA Academic Progress Rate averages 960 or higher across all sports in the first year and $4,000 every year it occurs afterward.

If Conque terminates the contract by leaving for a similar position elsewhere, he will owe the UALR $50,000 if he leaves by June 30, 2018, and $25,000 if he leaves by June 30, 2019.

Conque was hired on Jan. 6, 2015, and the athletic department has raised nearly $4 million over the past two years.

In the past five years, UALR’s 81 percent graduation success rate is the highest of any NCAA Division I program in Arkansas.

UALR has won a combined 11 team and individual Sun Belt Conference championships during his tenure, which includes the men’s basketball team’s run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and the women’s basketball team’s run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2015.

Starting in December, the university also will launch a football and marching band feasibility study.