PROVIDENCE – Providence College and men’s basketball coach Ed Cooley are working on finalizing a contract extension that will further cement the coach in his hometown.

Cooley, who just completed his fifth season as the Friars’ coach, signed an extension in April of 2013 that secured his future through the 2021 season. PC has not released any information on Cooley’s contract since but after a third straight run to an NCAA Tournament berth the school is now working on a longer extension with the coach.

As a private institution, Providence College chooses not to publicly reveal the details of Cooley’s contract. The most recent tax filing by the school – for the 2013-14 calendar year – reveals that Cooley was paid $1.5 million. Interestingly, that was also the final year of a buyout agreement with former coach Keno Davis that paid him $306,000.

While Cooley has publicly stated a desire to make Providence his destination job, his name recently was floated in media reports when coaching openings occurred at both Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech. Pitt has since hired ex-Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, while Georgia Tech's position remains unfilled.

The Friars won the Big East Tournament title in 2014 to advance to the NCAA’s for the first time since 2004. The Friars then returned to the NCAA’s in 2015 and `16 and won a game in the tournament for the first time since 1997 with a heart-stopping 70-69 victory over Southern California. PC’s run ended in an 85-66 loss to a North Carolina team that has advanced to the Final Four in Houston next weekend and is the only number one seeded team still alive.

This past season sparked the highest attendance numbers at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in 12 years. PC averaged 9,703 fans in 17 home games and 11,653 (with five sellouts) in nine Big East home games.

While Cooley is almost certainly going to receive a pay raise and additional years on a new deal, he’s most excited about the upgrades the school has made in the program in recent years. The Friars now fly charter aircraft to the majority of their road games, have an aggressive salary pool for assistant coaches and just committed to spending $30 million to build the Ruane Friar Development Center. The centerpiece of the new building is a practice facility, locker room, academic, meeting and office space exclusively for men’s basketball. Such a facility has become standard for all of the major powers in the country and around the Big East.