University of Georgia women's basketball coach Andy Landers has been awarded a four year contract extension which will keep the record-setting coach in Athens through the 2011 season according to an announcement Friday by UGA Director of Athletics Damon Evans.

Evans also said Landers' base salary would be increased from $180,132 to $225,000 and his total compensation package would be raised from $431,132 to $525,000. Landers had one year left on his existing contract prior to the extension.

"Andy is one of the legendary coaches in women's collegiate basketball and has a record of achievement that is not matched by many coaches in the history of the game," said Evans. "I'm very pleased that we have assured he will continue his career at the University of Georgia."

Landers has built the Lady Bulldogs into a national powerhouse and has maintained that elite level throughout his 27 seasons in Athens. The Lady Bulldogs rank No. 4 in the all-time Associated Press women's basketball poll and Georgia has been invited to 23 of 25 editions of the NCAA Championship, the third-most of any school in the nation. The Lady Dogs have won a combined 11 SEC Championships and SEC Tournament titles during Landers' tenure. Landers' student-athletes have been just as successful in the classroom, with 95.8 percent of his four-year letterwinners earning their degrees from UGA.

"A renewed contract allows me, our staff and our basketball team to continue to pursue the goal I had when I came here 27 years ago – that being winning a national championship," Landers said. "I'm appreciative of the confidence that our administration has in our ability to reach that goal, and I'm particularly pleased that I'll be able to continue to work with so many great people within the athletic department and the university community."

Individually, Landers ranks No. 2 all-time in both NCAA Tournament appearances (23) and weeks ranked by the AP (395); No. 3 in NCAA "Sweet 16s" (16); No. 4 in career victories (739), NCAA Tournament wins (45) and Final Four appearances (5); and No. 6 in top-10 AP finishes (10).

Among active coaches with 15 or more seasons of experience, Landers is No. 4 in both average wins (24.3) and winning percentage (.763).

Landers was named Georgia's first full-time women's basketball head coach on April 24, 1979 when he was just 26 years old. He inherited a program which was a combined 37-85 (.303) in its first six seasons of intercollegiate competition and quickly turned the Lady Bulldogs into a national power.

In Landers' second season, Georgia won the 1981 NWIT Championship. The following year, the Lady Bulldogs participated in the first-ever NCAA Tournament. A year later, Georgia reached the 1983 NCAA Final Four. Two seasons after that, the Lady Bulldogs advanced to the 1985 national championship game.

Landers has compiled a 657-208 (.760) record in 27 seasons at Georgia and a 739-229 (.763) mark in 31 years as a collegiate head coach. On Feb. 2, 2006, he became just the eighth women's basketball coach to record 650 victories at the Division I level, ascending that milestone at the third-fastest pace ever. Landers has been named National Coach of the Year on four occasions and SEC Coach of the Year three times.

Lady Bulldogs have long been leaders in the international and professional ranks. Teresa Edwards is the only basketball player – male or female – to represent the U.S. in five Olympic Games. She and former Lady Bulldog teammate Katrina McClain were the backbone of the U.S. National team for every major international competition from 1986-1996. All told, 17 former Georgia standouts have gone on to play in the WNBA, including Sherill Baker, a 2006 first-round draft pick and the Lady Dogs' seventh first-rounder in the last six years.