The organization also announced the formation of a nine-member council of excellence, assembling a veritable who's-who of Basketball leaders to guide the national program that includes Phoenix Suns star guard Steve Nash, Toronto Raptors coach Jay Triano and longtime Canadian coaches Ken and Kathy Shields.

''I'm thrilled,'' Rautins said at a news conference Tuesday. ''I think it's been an honour to be the coach, it's an honour to go forward, I think what we're trying to do, especially with the restructuring that's happening, is tremendous.''

The other members of the council are Maurizio Gherardini, the Raptors' senior vice-president of Basketball operations, plus longtime Canadian coaches Don McCrae and Steve Konchalski, former Raptors GM Glen Grunwald, and former Olympic women's player Sylvia Sweeney. All nine are working on a volunteer basis.

Canada Basketball has set a goal of being top-10 in the world by 2012 and top-eight by 2016 _ a sizable leap considering the men's and women's teams failed to earn a berth at the 2008 Olympics.

The men's Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens unravelled when Philadelphia 76ers centre Samuel Dalembert was dropped from the team.

Canada Basketball executive director and CEO Wayne Parrish said the plans for the new council had been in the works for about a year, and that the group is meant to provide support to the national team coaches. The defining moment though he said came in conversations with Rautins following the Dalembert fiasco.

''Essentially Leo said to me, 'Yes I should have handled it differently, but I felt utterly alone over there. I didn't feel there was any support from Canada Basketball, and I really haven't in the two or three years, and when push came to shove and everything was going down, I thought it was (me) hanging out in the wind all on my own,''' Parrish said.

Gherardini will oversee the men's national team, while Canada Basketball will appoint someone to govern the women's team.

Parrish said that Rautins and McNeill will remain head coach if the teams qualify for the 2010 world championships, and if not, they would be re-evaluated.

Rautins said he's not bothered by the terms of his extension.

''There's not a fear in failing,'' Rautins said. ''There's only an excitement of moving forward in the support and the structure that we're putting in place.''

The Canadian men's team is ranked No. 19 in the world, while the women are 13th.

''There was a time when it was consistent that we were in the top five or six teams in the world at world championships and Olympic Games,'' said Triano, a longtime player and coach for Canada. ''It would be a dream come true to see us as a nation get back to that level again.''