Herb Sendek

Herb Sendek
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Arizona State
Record	94–87 (.519)
Biographical details
Born	February 22, 1963 (1963-02-22) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Playing career
1981–1984	Carnegie Mellon
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1985–1989 1989–1993 1994–1996 1996–2006 2006–present	Providence (asst.) Kentucky (asst.) Miami (OH) NC State Arizona State
Head coaching record
Overall	348–245 (.587)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships MAC Regular Season Championship (1995)
Awards Pac-10 Coach of the Year (2010) ACC Coach of the Year (2004) MAC Coach of the Year (1995)

Herbert J. Sendek (born February 22, 1963) is an American college basketball coach and the current men's basketball coach at Arizona State University.

Background

Sendek was formally introduced as the ASU head coach on April 3, 2006. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, he served as an assistant coach at Providence College and the University of Kentucky under Rick Pitino. He was then the head coach at Miami University and at North Carolina State University. He was the head coach at N.C. State for 10 years. He is the grandson of a coal miner. Herb Sr., his father, is a teacher and basketball coach at both the high school and junior college levels. During his youth, Sendek was influenced by several coaches who had a great impact on him, including legendary junior college coach Bill Shay. Sendek became a standout guard as a senior at Penn Hills High School, earning All-East Suburban notice as the team captain. He was also a leader in the classroom, graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. He was recently named to the Penn Hills Hall of Fame and to the East Boros Chapter of the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame. From there, Sendek opted to attend Carnegie Mellon University, earning a Carnegie Merit Scholarship and the opportunity to play for coach Dave Maloney.

Timeline

• Born on February 22, 1963 in Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Went to high school at Penn Hills High School, Pittsburgh, Valedictorian of Class of 1981, 4.0 Grade Point Average
• Played basketball at Penn Hills High School, Two-year letter winner and team captain.
• Went to college for a B.S. in industrial management from Carnegie Mellon University, in 1985; 3.95 grade point average, graduated summa cum laude and earned the Carnegie Merit Scholarship.
• Played basketball at Carnegie Mellon, Three-year letterman, 1981-84.
• 1984-85 - Assistant Coach, Central Catholic High School (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
• 1985-86 - Graduate Asst. Coach, Providence College
• 1987-89 - Assistant Coach, Providence College
• 1989-93 - Assistant Coach, University of Kentucky
• 1993-96 - Head Coach, Miami University (Ohio)
• 1995 - Won MAC and Ohio Coach of the Year, also won Mid-American Conference Championship.
• 1996-2006 - Head Coach, North Carolina State University
• 2004 - Won ACC Coach of the Year.
• 2006–Present - Head Coach, Arizona State University
• 2010 - Won Pac-10 Coach of the Year

Coaching career

NC State

Sendek was hired at NC State in 1996 after three years at Miami (Ohio), his first head coaching experience. He immediately improved upon the Les Robinson era, winning 17 games for the program's first winning record in six years. In his first year at NC State, the Wolfpack also finished the year winning eight of eleven games, advanced to the finals of the ACC Tournament, and earned a trip to the postseason in the NIT.

Sendek coached NC State to the NCAA tournament five consecutive years from 2002 until 2006 (tying the school record). He won his 100th game at NC State in 2002. In 2004, Sendek won ACC Coach of the Year and Julius Hodge, one of Sendek's most prized recruits during his NC State tenure, won the ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year. In 2005, NC State upset defending champion Connecticut in the second round of the NCAA tournament to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, NC State's deepest run into the tournament during Sendek's years. Due to an 8-38 record against Duke and North Carolina and failing to win an ACC championship, support for Sendek began to decline leading to an unpleasant atmosphere. Feeling unappreciated, Herb Sendek moved to Arizona State to rebuild the Sun Devil program.

Arizona State

On April 3, 2006, Sendek accepted the head coaching job at Arizona State. While his first year record in the Pac-10 was a paltry 2-16, recruiting went well: ASU signed Jerren Shipp, a highly regarded high school guard, point guard Derek Glasser from the LA Area, and Eric Boateng, a McDonald's All-American who transferred from Duke. His second recruiting class included highly touted McDonald's All-American James Harden and point guard Jamelle McMillan (a four star recruit and the son of former NC State Basketball star Nate McMillan).

The 2007-2008 season was a great improvement over the previous season. Sendek and freshman guard James Harden led the Sun Devils to fifth place in the Pac-10 Conference, including a sweep of rival Arizona. Arizona State was rewarded with a number 1 seed in the 2008 NIT. The 2008-2009 team led by Pac-10 Player of the year James Harden improved to a 25-10 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Since the departure of James Harden for the NBA, the Sun Devils program finished 2nd in the Pac-10 during the 2009-2010 season in what was a weak Pac-10 Conference. That year, the conference RPI was so weak, it was the first time the 2nd place Pac-10 team didn't get an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament. The Sun Devils instead were given a #1 Seed in the NIT and lost to the Jacksonville Dolphins in Tempe. With three returning Seniors there were high expectations 2010-2011 season was expected to make a run at the Pac-10 Title again. However, the Sun Devils finished in last place with a record of 12-19(4-14). Some of the program's troubles could be due to the high transfer rate of recent recruits.

The 2011-12 season was anticipated to be better with the addition of newcomer and Arizona High School Player of the Year(2010-2011) Jahii Carson. However, Carson failed to gain NCAA clearance to play. The season became even more troublesome as Coach Sendek dismissed his leading scorer, Keala King, from the team on January 7, 2012 for undisclosed reasons.

Style of Play

Sendek has one of the most methodical coaching styles in the nation. Tough defense and deliberate offenses comprise the reputation of his teams. For instance, at NC State his teams were known for playing tenacious man defense and running a quick motion offense for numerous years. While at Arizona State, due to an initial lack of talent, his early teams played a matchup zone defense and ran a methodical offense that incorporated Princeton principles. As the talent level has increased at Arizona State, Sendek has evolved the offense to feature more sets to accommodate star players like James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph, and at the beginning of last season implemented a free flowing motion offense that allowed players more independence in making decisions, However, as the season unfolded, the team was forced to revert to the more deliberate offense and finished a disappointing 12-19(4-12). Sendek has stated that he'd like to look for more opportunities to push the ball and get easy buckets in transition in the coming season.

Coaching Tree

Herb Sendek has one of the largest coaching trees in all of college basketball^{[citation needed]}. Below is a list of former Sendek assistants :

• Charlie Coles (Miami University (Ohio))
• Jim Christian (TCU)
• John Groce (Ohio)
• Larry Hunter (Western Carolina)
• Mark Phelps (Drake)
• Ron Hunter (IUPUI)
• Sean Miller (Arizona)
• Thad Matta (Ohio State)
• Archie Miller (Dayton)

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Miami (OH) (Mid-American Conference) (1993–1996)
1993–94	Miami (OH)	19–11	12–6	2nd	NIT First Round
1994–95	Miami (OH)	23–7	16–2	1st	NCAA Second Round
1995–96	Miami (OH)	21–8	12–6	3rd	NIT First Round
Miami (OH):		63–26	40–14
NC State (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1996–2006)
1996–97	NC State	17–15	4–12	8th	NIT Second Round
1997–98	NC State	17–15	5–11	8th	NIT Second Round
1998–99	NC State	19–14	6–10	5th	NIT Second Round
1999–2000	NC State	20–14	6–10	6th	NIT Semifinals
2000–01	NC State	13–16	5–11	7th	None
2001–02	NC State	23–11	9–7	T–3rd	NCAA Second Round
2002–03	NC State	18–13	9–7	4th	NCAA First Round
2003–04	NC State	21–10	11–5	2nd	NCAA Second Round
2004–05	NC State	21–14	7–9	T–6th	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2005–06	NC State	22–10	10–6	4th	NCAA Second Round
NC State:		191–132	72–88
Arizona State (Pacific-10/12 Conference) (2006–present)
2006–07	Arizona State	8–22	2–16	10th	None
2007–08	Arizona State	21–12	9–9	5th	NIT Quarterfinals
2008–09	Arizona State	25–10	11–7	3rd	NCAA Second Round
2009–10	Arizona State	22–11	12–6	2nd	NIT First Round
2010–11	Arizona State	12–19	4–14	10th
2011–12	Arizona State	8-18	4-10
Arizona State:		96–92 (.510)	42–62 (.403)
Total:		350–250 (.583)
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

External links

• Herb Sendek Bio on Arizona State Athletics web site