Sendek: ASU extends contract, a walk down memory lane

Since most SFN readers have a little more experience and ‘gray hair’ than the readers at other blogs, I thought most of you might ‘enjoy’ a quick stroll down memory lane!! I can’t believe that it has been EIGHT years since HWSNBN flew the RBC for other pastures.

In case you missed it, after advancing to his second NCAA Tournament in eight years, Arizona State extended the coaching contract of one Herb Sendek for two more years.

Arizona State has agreed to contract extensions for men’s basketball coach Herb Sendek and women’s coach Charli Turner Thorne, a person familiar with the deals told The Associated Press. The person spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because the deals have not been announced.

Sendek’s extension would run through the 2018-19 season. His current contract goes through 2016, with an annual salary of $1.2 million.

Sendek, 51, led the Sun Devils to a 21-12 record last season and back into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. He is 141-121 in eight seasons and was the Pac-10 coach of the year in 2009-10.

Ah, yes!! “Coach of the Year”…as Lee Fowler would tell you (as he told all of our un-sports-educated big donors back in the day, ‘nobody fires someone who has ever been coach of the year’.

For some scary parallels to poor performance versus peers and also check out this article from today.

ASU Arizona State fans with Sendek head

Recruiting top talent becomes a chicken and egg phenomenon because to win, a coach needs to recruit, and to recruit, a coach needs to win. It’s also difficult chasing some of these players because the best of the best typically only play one season of college ball before declaring for the NBA draft.

Sendek hasn’t won enough at ASU to land the big players, though getting Howard is a nice start. In the Pac-12, only Oregon State and Utah have fewer NCAA tournament appearances than ASU since Sendek arrived.

Additionally, one of the other concerns about Sendek’s tenure is the transfer epidemic. Just this offseason, ASU players Brandan Kearney (Detroit), Calaen Robinson (Portland State) and Egor Koulechov (Rice) moved on to other schools.

However, reviewing ESPN insider Jeff Goodman’s annual college basketball transfer lists, ASU’s had the second-most players (nine) in the Pac-12 depart for other schools in the last three years.

[snip]

The Phoenix area may never fully embrace Sendek unless he does something big, like make an Elite Eight. It’s a front-runner town with six professional sports teams and a large transplant population base.

To be a consistent winner, which the fans can get behind, he’ll have to recruit better players. But the best players mainly want to attend the best programs. ASU has to hope that last year’s NCAA tournament appearance was enough to change recruits’ perspectives.

So…now that the announcement has been made how do you think the couple of dozen Arizona State basketball fans out there are feeling? Well, tell me if any of any of this sounds familiar? It gives me the shakes it is so friggin eerie. I could grab a hundred quotes from that thread, but I think this one succinctly says it all:

As an Arizona fan, this is great news.

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Home Forums Sendek: ASU extends contract, a walk down memory lane

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
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  • #55407
    StateFans
    Keymaster

    Since most SFN readers have a little more experience and ‘gray hair’ than the readers at other blogs, I thought most of you might ‘enjoy’ a quick stro
    [See the full post at: Sendek: ASU extends contract, a walk down memory lane]

    #55409
    Texpack
    Participant

    When you got it you got it. It doesn’t matter what coast you’re coaching on as long as you honor the process. With this extension the ASU fan base can start to see the daylight compartment at the end of the tunnel.

    #55411
    ryebread
    Participant

    What amazes me more than anything is that HWSNBN is currently only 51. His 8 years @ ASU + 10 in Raleigh means we were dumb enough to hire him at 33. There are very few people prepared to handle that type of environment at that age, and HWSNBN wasn’t one of them.

    I almost feel sorry for him, but then I remember the daytight compartments, wood chopping, seeds of greatness, running down of former coaches, transfers, injuries, Princeton offense, deflections, beat downs by Duke and UNC (other than when Doh was at the helm), heart breaking ACC tournament finals, blown leads in big games, the Elite 8 choke, running off Wilkins, no point guards, lunatic fringe, yearly letters of support, contract extensions ad nauseum, votes of support by rival coaches and fans, awful end of game management, horrible slow down ball, inflexibility and overall divisiveness. I don’t miss him at all.

    #55414
    Adventuroo
    Participant

    I SWORE that I would NOT post on this topic…..as I saw it when it popped up. Herbie has had his day in the sun and his brief (fill in the blank) number of minutes in some level of the “spotlight”

    But RyeBread done reminded me of all that MOST of us disliked (and prefer to forget) about Herbie.

    There was SO MUCH anticipation after Les. We loved Les (but not as much as Sid), but he never really made it as a coach in the ACC.

    Then came Herbie. Herbie had the academic smarts for the Admin. His GPA probably did more to get him the job than his coaching ability.

    And we put up with a LOT under him (see Rye’s post for the gory details). Two things stick out in my mind….the ACC Tourney final….against Duke. We had taken out (thanks, Herbie) UMD (who went on to win the NCAA that year and that put the skids under Gary’s “I’ve been to the Mountain” career…and it was all DOWNHILL after that). The MD game was great. We beat them….much to the chagrin of all the MD fans surrounding our seats in Charlotte.

    BUT, we had NO defense against Reddick and Company. When asked about WHY we had no defense or why we did not use a certain D (box & 1), Herbie simply answered….we did NOT practice that….so it was not an option. Herbie, did you practice ANYTHING that was slightly out of the ordinary?

    Then, Herbie was the spokesman for BoJangles. It’s BO time was heard throughout the land. We played a double (maybe triple) OT game and won. During the presser, Tony Haynes asked….”are you tired?”…..and Herbie responded….”Yes, I am exhausted….I need to get a Hoagie as I am famished…?

    Duh, Herbie, did you ever consider dropping a sponsor’s name? Obviously Herbie would not make it as a NASCAR driver (now there’s a picture that would scramble your brain….Herbie in a NASCAR ride…)

    But, good luck to Herbie. I hope he and the Miller kid have a LOT of future skirmishes….

    #55417
    Fastback68
    Participant

    I’m glad Coach Sniffles did not get another HC position because the number of posts regarding him would increase by ten fold. I don’t begrudge the Hobbit’s contract extension, I just don’t want to be reminded of those days.

    #55420
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    We loved Les (but not as much as Sid)

    Hey, speak for yourself. Both of those guys stunk IMHO.

    #55428
    13OT
    Participant

    Great news for U of A fans if you ask me.

    #55436
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    This post has HWSNBN and Jeff Goodman … it’s almost too much to take as a State fan!

    #55443
    pakfanistan
    Participant

    Herb must have nekkid pictures of somebody.

    #55444
    MrPlywood
    Participant

    Maybe Herb has nekkid pictures of EVERYONE. Could he be the brain trust behind The Fappening?

    #55467
    StateRed44
    Participant

    LOLOLOLOLOLOL ASU!

    #55500
    choppack1
    Participant

    If you want to know why herb continues to be employed you need to look no further than names like Sidney lowe, led Robinson, bzdelic, Bob staak, bob Wade, buzz Peterson, and Matt Doherty.

    Herb is competent. He will never knock the cover off the ball, but he will advance the program… To a point.

    Our fanbase’s biggest mistake wss bringing the heat on him instead of our baboon ad. Wanting sendek fired while Fowler was ad is like divorcing your wife because she only has sex with you once a month…when there are no are no women under 200 lbs out there. Fowler showed us what suck was..but hey at least we didn’t sweat selection Sunday

    #55506
    bill-1956
    Participant

    Herbie is not our coach. I do not care what ASU does with his contract, or with any of their other coach’s contracts.

    #55507
    packalum44
    Participant

    The most hilarious comments are from the Arizona fans who are ecstatic at this news. It seems ASU basketball is similar to NCSU football…and Herb is their TOB (Jeb would have NEVER fired this man…not in a million years). Certainly both schools exhibit loser status-quo mentalities but at least now we have a competent AD who is willing to fire coaches if they can’t optimize their teams commensurate with the resources provided.

    #55510
    ruffles31
    Keymaster

    This brought back many memories today…some of which I didn’t want to relive.

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