USF women’s coach Jose Fernandez being courted by University of Miami

TAMPA — The University of Miami has engaged in discussions with representatives of USF women’s basketball coach Jose Fernandez regarding the Hurricanes’ coaching vacancy, the Tampa Bay Times has learned.

UM is seeking a replacement for Katie Meier, who retired last week after 19 seasons at the school. Fernandez, who recently completed his 24th season at USF and is the program’s winningest coach (462-306), is a Miami native and Florida International alumnus.

Fernandez was engaged in a recruiting visit and unavailable Monday evening.

Before arriving at USF at the dawn of the millennium, Fernandez, 52, coached at the prep and college levels at various Miami schools. He was a newcomer at USF and four days shy of his 29th birthday when hired to replace ousted predecessor Jerry Ann Winters in 2000.

In the quarter-century since, he has built the Bulls program into an annual NCAA Tournament contender.

USF has made nine NCAA trips under Fernandez, including eight in the past 11 seasons (excluding the abbreviated COVID-19 year), and has posted 11 20-win seasons. His 2021 and 2023 squads won American Athletic Conference regular season titles.

Whether Miami can financially entice Fernandez away from Tampa remains unclear. Last fall, he agreed to a two-year contract extension that — in theory — would keep him at USF until 2029.

The extension came two years after he signed a six-year, $4.3 million deal that tops out at $800,000 annually. Under terms of the new agreement, Fernandez still would earn $800,000 in each of the additional two years (not including performance bonuses), though his staff salary pool would increase by $40,000 over that stretch.

His buyout remains at $1 million through June 30, 2026.

Contact Joey Knight at [email protected]. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.

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