ATHENS -- If something doesn’t happen soon, Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks may have to replace a track coach.
Petros Kyprianou, the Bulldogs’ highly successful head coach of men’s and women’s track and field, said he has no idea where he may be employed beyond June 30. That’s the day that his contract with UGA is set to expire.
Kyprianou’s comment was in response to a question about speculation that he already has decided to leave Georgia. The Bulldogs’ seventh-year coach is considered one of the hottest collegiate track coaches in the U.S., thanks to his work at UGA.
“I really don’t know where I’ll be (after June 30),” Kyprianou told the AJC.
Asked if he was trying to negotiate a better deal with UGA, Kyprianou said, “not really negotiating. (Brooks) can probably be a better resource at this point. I can’t really comment much until NCAA outdoor (season) is done.”
Neither Brooks nor other UGA officials responded to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Georgia track and field is rolling on under Kyprianou’s watch. The men and women finished third and fifth, respectively, at the recently completed NCAA indoor championships and are considered national championship contenders for the ongoing outdoor season.
Kyprianou, 43, led the Bulldogs to the men’s outdoor championship and women’s indoor title in 2018. Both were the school’s first national team championships.
Georgia’s men were ranked fifth and the women fourth last year when the indoor season was canceled because of the pandemic. Since overseeing nine individual national champions in this first two years in 2015 and ’16, Kyprianou has had at least one team finish in the national top five every season.
The women currently are ranked sixth and the men 15th in the outdoor season.
Georgia has tried to lock down Kyprianou with a multi-year contract since the national championship season. At the time, he was in the third year of a five-year deal that paid him $335,000, not including bonuses. That contract expired in 2020, and Kyprianou worked on a one-year agreement this past year.
Asked if a new deal was imminent, Kyprianou said: “Josh is a great guy and AD for Georgia, and I’m sure things will be great down the road for UGA Athletics.”
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