Days after reports that Mike Woodson would indeed stay on as the head coach for the New York Knicks, the team announced on Friday that Woodson would return as head coach for the 2012-13 season and beyond, having signed a multi-year contract extension.

The Knicks had been rumored to be pursuing big-name coaches, in search of an advantage to turn their talented core into an elite Eastern Conference team, but those whispers had died down in the last week.

And Woodson's stewardship of the team after the firing of Mike D'Antoni likely helped his candidacy: the Knicks closed the regular season by winning 18 of 24 games, then topped the Miami Heat in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals for the franchise's first playoff win since 2001, despite losing Iman Shumpert and Baron Davis to horrific injuries in the series.

For more on Woodson and the New York Knicks, visit SB Nation's Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and SB Nation New York.