Despite his recent troubles with the league for remarks he made during the Rockets' brief postseason run, Houston head coach Jeff Van Gundy has received a one-year contract extension on Wednesday. The extension means that Van Gundy will remain with the Rockets through the 2007-08 season. He has already spent two seasons with Houston, posting a 96-68 mark with consecutive playoff appearances. "When I hired Jeff two years ago, I said that I wanted to bring in a championship-caliber coach," Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said. "Jeff has done a great job for us over the past two seasons and I wanted to reward him for his hard work and dedication. Jeff has a unique ability to get the best out of his players and I believe he has our team poised on the verge of returning to our championship form." Van Gundy was hit with the largest fine for a head coach in league history during the Rockets' first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks when he publicly questioned the integrity of the league's officials. He said that referees were targeting Rockets center Yao Ming, citing an unnamed NBA official as the source of the comments. Commissioner David Stern took the comments very seriously and hit Van Gundy with a $100,000 fine. It was also rumored at the time that Van Gundy could be hit with a suspension. Houston lost its first-round series in seven games. Van Gundy's winning percentage of .585 stands as the highest of any coach in franchise history. He has posted nine consecutive winning records as an NBA head coach and holds a 344-240 career record, having also coached the New York Knicks before joining the Rockets. "I am very appreciative to Mr. Alexander for displaying this type of faith and confidence in the job we are doing here," Van Gundy said. "When I arrived in Houston nearly two years ago the goal was to return this team back to championship form. While we're not there yet, I think we have made some significant progress over the course of the last two seasons and it's nice to know that our owner feels the same way. As a coach, the chance to compete for a championship starts with a commitment to winning from ownership and I'm very thankful that Leslie has been very supportive of me and my staff."