Herb Sendek Fired by ASU

[Knight Shift]

Overall 155-133 at ASU over 9 years. 21-12 the previous 2 years but 18-16 this year. Got them to the NCAA's twice and NIT four times over nine years.

How would this type of record be received at Rutgers?

I met Herb about 20 years ago when he was just getting started as a head coach at Miami of Ohio. He gave a speech to the Cincinnati Athletic Association. His speech was about as exciting as a pitch on life insurance.

Herb Sendek Fired

 

[Mr Magoo]

We will never know. We have Eddie Jordan and Eddie loves Rutgers.

 

[Knight_Light]

Originally posted by Knight Shift:
Overall 155-133 at ASU over 9 years. 21-12 the previous 2 years but 18-16 this year. Got them to the NCAA's twice and NIT four times over nine years.

How would this type of record be received at Rutgers?

I met Herb about 20 years ago when he was just getting started as a head coach at Miami of Ohio. He gave a speech to the Cincinnati Athletic Association. His speech was about as exciting as a pitch on life insurance.

Sendek had a losing conf record during his 10 years at NC State.

Sendek had a losing conf record during his 9 years at Arizona State.

So for the last 19 years, Sendek has had a losing conf record....no clue why that would deserve a "tenure" like position.

When you are located in the same state and your hatred in-state rival is normally a Top 5-10 program in the nation (Arizona), you have to make moves like this to stay relevant.

ASU Officials obviously have targeted current Duke Asst Jeff Capel (former Head Coach at VCU where he had great success, then at Oklahoma, where it didn't' go so well).

Bottom line, one normally doesn't fire unless they know who they can hire...and its obvious that ASU got some type of buy-in signals from Jeff Capel to make this move.

 

[bac2therac]

they will always be second fiddle to Arizona, always but those results scream mediocrity. The Pac 12 offers schools a chance to move up. Its not like the old Big East. Beyond Arizona, everyone has had lean years including UCLA and Utah. It would seem as if though they knew the peak with Sendak.

 

[TDIrish1]

Sendek made the NCAA's 5 straight times at NC St I believe.

 

[G- RUnit]

PAC 12 a tough tough conference and always underrated just like this year when everyone is surprised when Arizona, Utah, UCLA and Oregon waltz through and Stanford makes the NIT Final Four. Seth Greenberg reiterated last night that ASU is a really tough place to coach and that Herb Sendek was actually the most successful of the last four ASU coaches. Not a lot of players in Arizona so have to recruit California.

This post was edited on 3/25 10:03 AM by G- RUnit

 

[G- RUnit]

They did beat Arizona this year as well. Bit of an odd firing and for Jeff Capel who didn't do much at Oklahoma?

 

[PiscatawayMike]

Overall, he was under .500 in ACC games at NC State, but his 5-year stretch from 2001-2006 ain't too shabby...

I've always liked Sendek as a coach. I think he'll wind up at a mid-major program and have success.

Sendek bio

 

[MADHAT1]

Some points in this article ( below) that could be said about what the RU MBB
program:




>Understand this: Contrary to Anderson's perception, the program is
fool's gold. The arena is stagnant. Except for the Curtain of Distraction - a
novelty that's less than two years old - there is very little game-day
experience. As a result, there is little to attract marquee recruits.<




>Translation: We need a new arena, and we need the next head coach to
lead the fundraising efforts.<




>So, what do you do if you have nothing worth selling? You upgrade the
salesman, and everything about the next basketball coach should be determined
through the filter of recruiting. This is where Pastner trumps the field, even
heralded Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel.<




>Basketball prospects come with many more demands and a much greater
sense of entitlement. Most want schools where basketball is the status sport.


They want programs that are placed on pedestals. They want coaches who have
a full portfolio of NBA players.<




>He'd make you believe because he's a tireless salesman, and that's
exactly what ASU basketball needs at the moment.<



For ASU basketbal

 

[B0ski]

With that record, he would be in the Rutgers Hall Of Fame.

 

[MADHAT1]

Originally posted by B0ski:
With that record, he would be in the Rutgers Hall Of Fame.

 

[G- RUnit]

Sorry BAC but you may want to re-think that Herb Sendek's record, "screams mediocrity". Really? In six of the last eight years in a State that he shares with perennial Top 5 Arizona, he has gone 21-12, 25-10, 22-10, 21-12, 21-12 and 18-16. More you read about it, the more you realize that ASU firing was downright dumb! That's not mediocre by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Knight_Light]

Originally posted by G- RUnit:
Sorry BAC but you may want to re-think that Herb Sendek's record, "screams mediocrity". Really? In six of the last eight years in a State that he shares with perennial Top 5 Arizona, he has gone 21-12, 25-10, 22-10, 21-12, 21-12 and 18-16. More you read about it, the more you realize that ASU firing was downright dumb! That's not mediocre by any stretch of the imagination.

You keep trying to include mostly worthless non-conf wins vs Junior Colleges.

During those same 8 years at ASU, he had a LOSING conf record....(even more so when you include the 9th season).

Was it dumb to fire a coach wouldn't couldn't win half of his conf games?

Probably not.

Now is there a guarantee that his replacement can do better?

Of course not...but I think after 9 years...ASU knew what they had in Sendek...a Coach who would normally bloat his overall record with so-so to bad performance in conf play with easy non-conf schedules.

 

[G- RUnit]

If it were that easy every coach in the country would do it! Hard to call a win over Arizona bloated! Jeff Capel wore out welcome at Oklahoma fairly quickly with 13-18 and 14-18 records and 4-12 and 5-11 conference records. Be careful what you wish for....

 

[bac2therac]

Originally posted by G- RUnit:
Sorry BAC but you may want to re-think that Herb Sendek's record, "screams mediocrity". Really? In six of the last eight years in a State that he shares with perennial Top 5 Arizona, he has gone 21-12, 25-10, 22-10, 21-12, 21-12 and 18-16. More you read about it, the more you realize that ASU firing was downright dumb! That's not mediocre by any stretch of the imagination.

the goal is not NIT appearances...he was amassing wins against sisters of the poor but doing poorly in conference. He wasn't going to all of a sudden revive them after 9 years of mediocrity

 

[G- RUnit]

Originally posted by bac2therac:

Originally posted by G- RUnit:
Sorry BAC but you may want to re-think that Herb Sendek's record, "screams mediocrity". Really? In six of the last eight years in a State that he shares with perennial Top 5 Arizona, he has gone 21-12, 25-10, 22-10, 21-12, 21-12 and 18-16. More you read about it, the more you realize that ASU firing was downright dumb! That's not mediocre by any stretch of the imagination.

the goal is not NIT appearances...he was amassing wins against sisters of the poor but doing poorly in conference. He wasn't going to all of a sudden revive them after 9 years of mediocrity

Amassing wins against "Little Sisters of the Poor?" Shall we look at this year's Little Sisters? Arizona? UCLA? Stanford? Harvard? UNLV? UConn? Those are some really little sisters! That's sarcasm!

Lets also look at some of those awful loses too: Arizona, Utah 2x Oregon 2x(1ot), Maryland, Texas A&M, Alabama, Marquette and Richmond. My goodness they played nobody! That's sarcasm too!

Last three years: 21-12, 21-12, NCAA 2nd round, 18-16, and you get fired?

What a joke! Let's hire Jeff Capel! Ridiculous!



This post was edited on 3/25 9:21 PM by G- RUnit

This post was edited on 3/25 9:27 PM by G- RUnit

 

[bac2therac]

yes one NCAA in 4 years and perpetual NITs in a conference that has been down will get you fired...not hard to understand, you don't get a lifetime contract because you make the NIT...Arizona State is a power 5 school not a midmajor

 

[MADHAT1]

Herb had some cupcakes , like every program schedules and some good opponents .
Don't think ASU's schedule deserves to be bashed.
It's just that the Sun Devil MBB program wasn't moving into the top of the PAC and though well liked by the fans,
most of them didn't think Sendek could make ASU MBB into a top PAC program and are welcoming a change,
but not knocking Herb's efforts.Just his results and recruiting.

 

[BoroKnight]

I am not going to argue that he's a huge success, but he went from the shadow of Duke and Carolina (yes, I know Sloan and Valvano thrived there, but it's a bit different in this age of media coverage where the other two have been separated from the rest of the world by ESPN) to being in the shadow of Arizona, which Lute Olson built from nothing into a power.

I do agree that expectations should not be lowered because of you're not at a "basketball" school or the golden boys of your market, but a little reality has to be taken into account as well. Tougher places to win than their competition.

 

[G- RUnit]

Originally posted by bac2therac:

yes one NCAA in 4 years and perpetual NITs in a conference that has been down will get you fired...not hard to understand, you don't get a lifetime contract because you make the NIT...Arizona State is a power 5 school not a midmajor

Or just made the NCAA tourney last year in a conference that is perpetually under-rated and ignored? Did you not say that the PAC 12 conference was down this year? Arizona, Utah, Oregon, UCLA, and NIT Final Four Stanford beg to differ. If Washington does not kick their best player off the team mid season this "down" conference might just be the best conference in the country this year. Oh yeah ASU beat Arizona and won 18 games with that schedule. Just ridiculous to fire him now.

 

[bac2therac]

Rutgers beat Wisconsin...what does that mean..nothing

the Pac 10 was down this year, look at the lack of big OOC wins by the schools, the rpi and bpi, They have done well in the tournament but lets face it UCLA got a big break when UAB beat Iowa State, but regular season the league was down and ASU floundered in conference play

 

[G- RUnit]

PAC 12 was by no means down. For most of the year Arizona and Utah were two of the top six teams in the country. Oregon was one of hottest teams and most underrated statistically coming into the Tourney. UCLA established it belongs! Stanford made it to the NIT final four. Washington was 10-0 with a win over Oklahoma when it kicked its best player off the team. That factor more than any skewered any ratings and certainly did not establish that the league was down. Oregon State, ASU and Cal were all over .500. Really underrated conference and Tourneys confirmed it. Not down because one says, it's down!

I am skeptical of BPI and ESPN attempts to manipulate stats as they chose.

 

[MADHAT1]

2 NCAAs in 9 years did Herb in along with not bringing in enough quality recruits to have a team that would be considered constant NCAA Tourney team.
When being considered a middle of the pack team with a top one (UofA)in the same state, ASU fans wanted more than
Sendek was giving them. Even if he didn't have much to work with, expectations of ASU's MBB program becoming a top program was the reason Herb was hired and he didn't produce the type of teams that he was hired to put out.

Just having pretty good records while you're HC st a school, doesn't mean more isn't expected and after a number of years
the school decides you won't be taking the program where they expect it to be, they replace you and look for someone they think will make the program better than you were doing..
A coach can win most of the time, but not dancing enough might be a job killer at schools that expect to be dancing more
than that HC took them . Even if that HC had little to work with when trying to get talent into his program.

 

[G- RUnit]

Don't disagree with anything above just odd when last year he did bring ASU to the Big Dance and this year he did beat Arizona. And just think even more odd when replaced by Jeff Capel. Lon Kruger turned Oklahoma around.

 

[Knight_Light]

What most have overlooked is that most of these recent so-so to below average HC that have been fired were fired by AD's that DID NOT HIRE THEM.

ASU has a brand new AD...and since Todd Graham was already at ASU...the only way to make your big move is to fire/hire the basketball coach.

If your boss that hired you (AD) is no longer at your school...your job security may not be strong...may actually be weak, very weak...especially if said new AD is looking to make his "big hire" (i.e. football/basketball at Div I...or just basketball hire for those "basketball schools").

 

[MADHAT1]

Originally posted by Knight_Light:
What most have overlooked is that most of these recent so-so to below average HC that have been fired were fired by AD's that DID NOT HIRE THEM.

ASU has a brand new AD...and since Todd Graham was already at ASU...the only way to make your big move is to fire/hire the basketball coach.

If your boss that hired you (AD) is no longer at your school...your job security may not be strong...may actually be weak, very weak...especially if said new AD is looking to make his "big hire" (i.e. football/basketball at Div I...or just basketball hire for those "basketball schools").

Knight_Light:,
ASU's new AD ( Ray Anderson) gave Herb a one year extension before this season started. before was hired Sendek had another new AD (Steve Patterson who went on to be the Texas AD) that kept Herb the HC and didn't seem like he was dissatisfied with the MBB program under Sendek.

Either it was a planned going away present for Sendek ( 2 year salary instead of one) or he felt Herb was his man, even if another AD ( Lisa Love) hired him and changed his mind after the season ended.
Herb only won 3 PAC Tourney games in the time he was ASU's HC and the way the team lost to USC in it this year made Herb look bad and mat=ybe not the man to take ASU MBB where the fans and school wanted it. ( dancing all the time)