Associated Press

Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger, whose team was 15-15 this year, has only one more season left on her contract.

Next year is here for the Virginia Tech's women's basketball program, and it promises to be a pivotal one.

Coach Beth Dunkenberger has just one season left on her contract, and that season has already started because the Hokies put an end to this season when they decided not to put their name in a hat for a potential bid to the postseason WNIT.

Athletic director Jim Weaver said Monday that Tech's 15-15 record just wasn't good enough to merit postseason play.

Dunkenberger said she supported the decision.

"Our kids were upset. They wanted to keep playing," Dunkenberger said. "And that's a good thing. It's a good lesson."

Weaver said he and senior woman administrator Sharon McCloskey had decided before the ACC tournament began that a win in the first round -- which would have pushed Tech's record over .500 -- would be enough to allow the Hokies to try for the WNIT.

Instead the Hokies lost 62-49 to Boston College, and Dunkenberger's defense of her job began.

Both Weaver and Dunkenberger said she will coach for the 2010-11 season.

"She's a very good person and she has a very good basketball background," Weaver said. "She wants to be here and we want her to be here.

"I want her to have a full year in the new practice facility to see what she can do."

Dunkenberger's salary for the 2009-10 school year is $211,757, with a $62,500 retention bonus and $10,000 from Tech's Nike contract.

She is scheduled to receive $222,345 plus the $10,000 from Nike for the 2010-2011 school year. Her retention bonus increases to $70,000 after July 1.

Weaver said he would not put out any sort of benchmarks Dunkenberger's team would have to reach in order to keep her job past the 2010-11 season.

"It'll just be my decision, along with Sharon McCloskey, after we review the season," Weaver said.

Dunkenberger said: "Nobody holds me more accountable than me."

She said that while the players were working on their games this summer, she would be working on her coaching.

She said she had already gotten help from men's basketball coach Seth Greenberg and was looking forward to a visit with two-time WNBA coach of the year Mike Thibault of the Connecticut Sun.

"I don't think we need to reinvent the wheel," Dunkenberger said. "I'm going to search far and wide for new ideas. I'm going to watch, talk, listen and learn."

Meanwhile, Dunkenberger will have to recruit for Tech's future with her own in doubt.

"She's going to have to do the very best she can, and let the chips fall where they may," Weaver said.