New Orleans Hornets and Coach Monty Williams Agree to 4-Year Contract Extension

New Orleans Hornets head coach Monty Williams has agreed to a four-year contract extension that will keep him in New Orleans through the 2016 NBA season.

Williams, a third-year head coach with a 67-81 record, signed the contract late Saturday, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune.

In his first year as head coach, Williams guided his Hornets to a playoff berth. He had some help, though, as superstar Chris Paul facilitated the offense and opened things up for the rest of the team.

Williams’ Hornets struggled to do much of anything in 2012 after losing Paul and falling prey to the injury bug, finishing the year with a dismal 21-45 record. His team, though, never gave up and played hard for him till the end.

That’s why he’s still in New Orleans and will be for the foreseeable future.

This move should surprise no one, though.

New Hornets owner (and New Orleans Saints owner) Tom Benson announced after he purchased the team that Williams and general manager Dell Demps would be kept on the staff, according to John Reid of The Times Picayune.

Despite the losing record, Benson and Mickey Loomis, in charge of basketball operations, have found positives in Williams’ coaching—enough to warrant extending the coach, charging him with leading a turnaround fueled by the team’s two lottery picks this offseason.

According to Reid, Williams was exuberant when hearing the news that the new ownership had decided to invest the future of their organization’s success with him. He said the following about his employer's commitment to him:

"

I’m aware of the work ahead of us, but that’s what we all want. But at the same time, to have Mickey and Mr. Benson step up to the plate and just say this is the guy we trust going forward, they will never know how that makes me and my family feel. That’s a pretty profound statement.

"

That is certainly a profound statement for a struggling organization that will try to rebound and return to the playoffs in the near future. 

Mike Hoag Jr. is a Trends and Traffic writer for Bleacher Report and also covers the Cleveland Browns and the NFL for the site. Follow him on Twitter @BigHoagowski.