Bohls: Rodney Terry has delivered, now Texas should do the right thing and hire him

DES MOINES, Iowa — Marcus Carr calmly buried a couple of free throws in the closing seconds to salt away an intense 71-66 win over Penn State on Saturday night, and then the commotion began.

Dylan Disu, who has morphed into a scoring monster the last two months, went off again for a season-high 28 points. A euphoric Texas crowd going crazy at Wells Fargo Arena serenaded the new star, chanting his name over and over, and Disu posed for pictures with the Longhorns cheerleaders.

Chris Del Conte threw up his Horns and hugged everybody wearing burnt orange before the giddy Texas athletic director almost skipped off the court.

And in a rare emotional celebration, Rodney Terry let loose, too. The 54-year-old threw three fist pumps as the seconds ticked off the landmark victory that sealed the program’s first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2008. He bear-hugged senior and team spokesman Timmy Allen. He slapped fives with Jabari Rice, the best reserve in the country.

“Give RT credit,” Allen said.

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Second-seeded Texas took care of business, holding off a much lower but terrific 10th-seeded Big Ten team to advance to play the winner of Xavier-Pitt on Friday.

Now it’s time for the next order of business.

Give Terry the job permanently, Texas. Inter the interim tag. Make it official.

Don’t wait until after the season, which may last two more weeks given how poised and resilient Terry’s team is. Sign him now, give him a four or five-year deal to demonstrate the faith you have in him and lock him up before some other school scoops him up. He’s shown he’s up to the job.

The way his players and assistants speak of him, Terry might get sainthood before he does the full-time gig. He sure invokes God often enough, talking about “how blessed” he is to lead this group.

He’s smart. He’s engaging. The stage isn’t too big for him. Avoid the, uh, rush, Texas. This should be at the top of Del Conte’s to-do list Monday.

As Disu said at the podium, “Why not RT?”

Why not, exactly.

Here’s why, though. A team always reflects its head coach, and this bunch is the perfect image of its coach. Chris Beard, whose place Terry took on Dec. 12 after a charge of domestic violence that was later dropped, is one of the best coaches in the game but wired tight, maybe too tight. And that too can affect the players. Terry, on the other hand, deflects credit to everyone but himself.

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“He is one of the best human beings in the basketball world,” said assistant coach Chris Ogden, who said the players “no doubt” have been more relaxed under Terry’s demanding but uplifting style. “He’s always made time for young coaches at small schools. Not all Power Five coaches do that.”

Terry has an authenticity about him that transfers to his players. He can be a bit corny at times, but only because he’s an old-school father figure and genuinely interested in their welfare. He carries himself with an unguarded openness that has ingratiated himself with his team.

It’s never about him. Part of the beauty in Terry’s style is that he didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Only grease the wheels.

After Thursday's win over Colgate in the opening round, Allen talked about some awkwardness in the early going when Terry replaced Beard on Dec. 12, when Terry wanted to put his “own little flavor” on things, but after two practices that was gone, and the players bought in and quickly embraced the coach who had recruited most of them.

Speaking of recruits, the two big-time players he helped draw to Texas — including McDonald’s All-American Ron Holland — have stayed firm in the Longhorns camp. Why rock that boat?

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Terry has covered himself in glory these last three months, directing a team with six seniors to the second weekend of the postseason when No. 1 seeds are dropping like banks. Two of them were eliminated this weekend, as both Purdue and Big 12 regular-season champion Kansas fell as did another No. 2 seed, Arizona.

But Texas plays on.

Saturday's victory spoke to the team’s unmatched versatility. Two days after beating Colgate with 13 treys — seven from Rice — Texas won this one with only a single triple, after missing its first 11 attempts, and zero fast-break points.

“And we still scored 71,” Ogden said. “How about that?”

Few teams can win games playing either an uptempo, racehorse style or a half-court, possession game as Texas did Saturday. A 3-point specialist beat Colgate. A late-blooming power forward who sank 14 buckets to break the school NCAA Tournament record set by some guy named Durant beat Penn State.

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That’s the kind of sharing-the-basketball unselfishness that’s been this team’s hallmark all year long. Kind of like its coach.

“They don’t care who the leading scorer is,” Ogden said. “They only care about winning.”

They seem to have that part down pretty well. The Longhorns stretched their record to 28-8 and have won six straight games to take even more momentum into the Midwest Region in Kansas City.

Not that they’re ready to slow down.

Ogden predicted that “one of our freshmen will be the reason we’ll win one of our next games,” and he’s probably right although rookies Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris played less than 10 minutes and combined for only two points. That’s the kind of depth there is on this club.

This seemed to be a game where Terry put much of his trust in his seniors and figured they’d get it done and do it with defense. When a reporter mentioned that Texas led the Big 12 in scoring with almost 80 points a game, Carr shook his head.

“We didn’t even know that,” he said. “It’s defense, defense, defense. We have a huge sense of pride in that. Coach Terry’s a calming presence, but he still gets on us and coaches us hard.”

Even Terry can apply some tough love when necessary, but he does understand a senior-laden team can accept it more. As Carr said, “even Tyrese (Hunter) is a young, old guy.”

So is Terry, for that matter. And his team has responded to his every ask as they prolong their season’s journey.

Does he think he deserves the job?

"I'm serious," he said. "God is going to put you where you're supposed to be."

Then he lapsed for a second and, reflecting on his nine years at Texas under Rick Barnes, added, "You know, I'm kind of used to being at Sweet 16s."

A reporter did prod him into revealing some inner joy and noted that Arkansas’ overly exuberant coach bared his soul — and more — after upsetting Kansas. In fact, Eric Musselman, who’s slightly less animated than a puppet, ripped off his shirt and led the Razorbacks band.

Asked if he’d ever go that far in jubilation, Terry joked, “I’m not in any condition to be taking my shirt off.”

That’s cool. But he is the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back if it was needed. Moreover, he’s restored a lot of joy and pride for the school in a season that was threatening to be torn apart at the seams before he came to the rescue.

Terry has been an interim savior of sorts, given the ugliness that transpired at midseason, and kept things steady and moving forward.

And the end is not yet in sight. No, maybe closer to a beginning.

“It’s a dream to play in the NCAA Tournament, but I’m not satisfied,” said Hunter, who played in the Sweet 16 with Iowa State last year before transferring. “We want to make it to Houston. We’ve got more to do.”

So does Del Conte. Break out the paperwork.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: It's time for Texas to hire Rodney Terry before someone else does