CARBONDALE - Less than a year after taking over the position, Southern Illinois University's athletic director has been rewarded for his efforts.

Mario Moccia, the school's first-year AD, has received a one-year contract extension. He is now signed through 2009-10, with the hopes that his department will continue the success it showed in year one of his regime.

"I am grateful for the confidence placed in me by the leadership of our university," Moccia said in a school release. "I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year in Carbondale and look forward to improved performance in all areas as we move together."

Moccia started at SIU on Aug. 1, replacing Paul Kowalcyzk, and didn't take long to make his impact felt. Four Saluki teams won conference championships this season, none in grander fashion than the men's basketball team, which advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament and finished the season ranked No. 11, best in school history.

But while that team received the most national attention, it was far from the only team that met or exceeded expectations at SIU this past year.

The football team made the playoffs for the fourth straight year, advancing to the quarterfinals in the Football Championship Subdivision. The women's basketball team also won the Missouri Valley Conference championship and advanced to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament. The women's golf team played in its first NCAA Championships, while the softball team advanced to its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament and hosted a regional for the first time.

SIU's athletes also had one of their most successful seasons in the classroom. The combined grade-point average of Saluki athletes was 3.00, the highest mark in school history.

"The university is blessed to have an athletic director who is such a strong advocate for university intercollegiate sports and who inspires our coaches and scholar-athletes to achieve academically as well as athletically," university president Glenn Poshard said.

This spring, Moccia also signed basketball coaches Chris Lowery and Dana Eikenberg to contract extensions, locking up two of the country's hottest coaching commodities. He has also continued to raise funds for Saluki Way, with the hopes that work on a new football stadium and renovated SIU Arena will begin next year.

Financial terms of Moccia's extension were not disclosed by the university.

rob.crow@thesouthern.com / 351-5085