The Coaching Carousel for college basketball is a series where we break down contracts and candidates. You can read more about it here or dive deeper into Chris Mack, Travis Steele, or Takayo Siddle profiles.
The wheels and calendar are turning toward March, and a coach who will find himself in the conversation is Andy Newman.
Although Newman hasn’t yet won a championship with the Matadors, they are in the mix (again) this season, and the broader context surrounding his tenure suggests something more important than a banner. It points to a coach who has repeatedly rebuilt programs, maximized resources, and produced results quickly.
Newman entered the job as the eighth head coach in CSUN history and immediately altered the program’s direction.
In his first two seasons, the Matadors won 41 games, their best two-year stretch in more than two decades. His first season alone produced a 12-game improvement and the program’s first winning record in 15 years. Signature wins followed, including a road victory over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, the program’s first win over the Bruins in 23 years, and a conference tournament victory that snapped a decade-long drought.
By year two, the turnaround had become validation. CSUN finished 22-11, tying the school record for wins while setting a new mark for conference victories. The Matadors tied program records for road wins, matched their Division I record for consecutive victories, and reached the NIT for the first time in school history. National metrics reinforced the identity Newman had installed. CSUN ranked among the nation’s best in rebounding, defensive field goal percentage, turnovers forced, and assists.
Andy Newman Contract
- Term: April 17, 2023 – April 30, 2028
- Base Salary: $325,008
- Supplemental Compensation Cap: $215,168 annually
- Buyout: 25% of the remaining base salary if he leaves for another head coaching job.
- Guarantee Game Bonus: Up to $80,000 annually from net payouts
- Program Incentive: Next $150,000 of guarantee net revenue stays with CSUN basketball operations.
Buyout Example —> If Coach Newman left on April 1st of this year, he’d owe roughly $170,000.
The structure is unusually coach-friendly. A buyout tied only to base salary, set at 25 percent, is very modest by Division I standards, especially as salaries nationwide are escalating. The guarantee-game clause is equally notable. Not only can Newman personally earn up to $80,000 from those games, but the next $150,000 stays with the basketball program itself for operational support. At many schools, revenue flows centrally, so this provision effectively reinvests competitive scheduling into the program’s infrastructure.
On paper, Newman likely should have received an extension by now, but there’s probably a reason beyond the department going nearly a year without an athletic director. His contract is very friendly, especially on the buyout front. (And yes, I know I need to cover the athletic director vacancies again. I read your DMs!)
When that guaranteed game bonus ceiling is factored into his compensation, Newman effectively is the sixth-highest paid coach in the Big West, even though CSUN sits in the middle tier financially. The Matadors ranked fifth in total basketball expenses among the conference’s 11 public institutions in both 2024 and 2025, and third in coaching staff salary pools across those same peers. Winning at that level of resource allocation tends to attract attention from administrators searching for efficiency as much as success.
Newman Built
That pattern of building defined Newman long before CSUN.
At Cal State San Bernardino, he built one of the most dominant runs in history, going 206-98, winning multiple conference titles, and reaching the Division II national semifinals. His final two seasons alone produced a 55-8 mark, including a school-record 31-win year. He inherited a program coming off four straight losing seasons and turned it into a regional power, earning multiple coach-of-the-year honors.
He engineered a similar rise at the University of Texas Permian Basin, posting a 101-50 record across five seasons with five straight winning years, conference regular-season and tournament titles, two NCAA Tournament trips, and a Sweet 16 run.
Newman also knows the Big West (and western US) landscape well. He spent a decade on staff at Cal State Fullerton, including a season as associate head coach during a championship run and NCAA Tournament berth, and later served as interim head coach. Additionally, he was the director of basketball operations at Fresno State during a conference title season.
All of this explains why Newman’s name is beginning to circulate more frequently in coaching discussions. He has not yet won a championship at CSUN, but he has accomplished something that often comes first. Newman has restored relevance to Matador hoops and several other programs. If March is kind, even modestly to the matadors, Andy Newman may soon find himself in conversations with other schools.
