'That's My Coach!': Ex Texas Star Royal Ivey Endorses Rodney Terry As Head Coach

The Longhorns will make the Sweet 16 for the first time in 15 years, and one former Texas player is all-in on Rodney Terry as the future head coach.

The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team is taking names and making noise this March. 

With a victory over tenth-seeded Penn State Saturday night at the Well Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, the Longhorns are dancing to their way to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008. 

Players are ecstatic.

Coaches can't help but gush. 

One coach, however, made it clear that on the hardwood, Texas is "back" for good. And it's thanks to one man still waiting for the interim tag to be removed from his name. 

Royal Ivey, a former Longhorns star in the 2000s and current assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets, took to Twitter following the win. Ivey said that Texas was rolling its way through the competition, and interim coach Rodney Terry was "his coach" for the future of the program. 

The Real UT How Sweet it is... I know how it feels. We are Back!!! Wow, I'm so happy for those guys. @RodneyTerry is my coach!!!!!!!

— Coach Ivey (@ROYALTIVEY) March 19, 2023

Terry's consistency this season has been the driving force for Texas since the firing of Chris Beard. Terry, who previously worked at Fresno State and UTEP, helped the Horns pick up their first Big 12 title since 2021 and garner a No. 2-seed in the Midwest Region. 

Saturday's 71-66 win over the Nittany Lions might be the one that gets athletic director Chris Del Conte to remove the interim tag attached to Terry's name. Behind the shooting of senior Dylan Disu, the Longhorns pulled away with less than two minutes to coast toward a trip back to Kansas City. 

Disu, a 6-9 forward from Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, totaled 28 points and 10 boards, matching his career-high set as a sophomore during his time at Vanderbilt. 

“It means a lot to be showing up in March Madness, but I couldn't do it without my teammates,” said Disu postgame. “I mean, they were finding me, getting me a lot of my shots. My teammates had to find me first, so credit to them and credit to the coaches that were putting us in position to score.”

Disu scored three straight buckets to turn a 3-point deficit into a 3-point lead with just under three minutes remaining. Marcus Carr extended the lead to five with a layup on the ensuing possession, while Disu tacked on four more points to have the fans jumping. 

“We knew we had a size advantage; we knew we had a guy (Disu) that could score the ball that's playing at a very high level," Terry said postgame. 

Penn State never found its rhythm from downtown, a feat that helped the program pick up its first tournament win in over a decade by defeating Longhorns' in-state rival Texas A&M. All-American point guard Jalen Pickett finished with 11 points and was 5-of-13 shooting. He also was credited with seven turnovers, two of which came from big man Timmy Allen. 

“I said, ‘guys, we've been here before, it's nothing we haven't faced this year,’” Terry said. "I said we've played the toughest league in the country, let's go out right now. We've got to put it on our defense. We've done it all year long. We've got to get a stop and score and put some stops together here and try to finish this game out. And I thought our guys went out and did that at a very high level.” 

The Longhorns will now face third-seeded Xavier next Friday at the T-Mobile Center for a chance to make the Elite Eight. Meanwhile, Terry could still be waiting for Del Conte to decide on his future. 

Ivey is on board. So are the players. The only question on everyone's mind? 

What's taking so long, Del Conte?

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