by Colin Dunlap, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"John Calipari recruited a lot of kids when he was at Memphis, and he told them, 'I'm going to be your guy as long as you are here,' " Wallace said. "Then he took the Kentucky job, just like that. That has to have those Memphis players feeling let down some. That doesn't look like it is going to happen here now. We have a face to our program."

That face is 40-year-old coach Mike Rice.

Robert Morris and Rice agreed to a three-year contract extension, officially announced yesterday at a news conference at the Sewall Center, that stretches Rice's contract through the 2015-16 season. Financial terms of the deal that was first reported Saturday in the Post-Gazette were not disclosed.

In two seasons, Rice, a fiery coach who outwardly shows emotion during games, constructed a 50-19 record, winning almost 73 percent of his games including a 31-5 mark (.861 winning percentage) in conference games. He has led the Colonials to the Northeast Conference regular-season title both seasons.

Rice spent much of the news conference yesterday deflecting praise to assistants Andrew Toole, Jimmy Martelli and Levi Franklin: "The word is out about this staff, people in college basketball know how good they are."

And, to a larger degree than when he arrived, Rice believes people who follow college basketball know Robert Morris -- even if just a little bit.

"The exposure we received going to the NCAA tournament has been great, I feel comfortable standing here and saying that, through the hard work of many people, the visibility of this program has been heightened," Rice said.

"We are on a list now, people see 'Robert Morris' and maybe now, they know something about us, where they didn't know anything in the past. That's a great thing for our program."

And a great thing for Rice -- who cashed in as a result.

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