Say it isn’t so…Sendek on the hot seat?

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I couldn’t believe my eyes when someone posted this link on our message boards, but apparently someone in the media is actually following Herb Sendek’s results at Arizona St. With the constant shots taken at NC State by our broadcast partners at ESPN and Raycom(specifically Mike Patrick, Mike Gminski, Tim Brando, and Len Elmore), then we have to point out that some professionals covering college basketball actually do their homework and portray issues accurately. Shocker…I know.

From Eye on College Basketball:

Today, I’m going to single out two coaches from each of the Power Six conferences who are likely on their way out after the season. Before I do that, I want to congratulate the nation’s Athletic Directors for not firing anybody mid-season this year. After watching programs like DePaul and UNC-Wilmington struggle to find new leaders after firing coaches in January, perhaps the notion that it’s better to finish the season before handling your business is taking root again.

Now, on to our Power Six Pink Slip Pairings:

ACC: NC State’s Sidney Lowe (2-7 in conference) and Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt (3-6)

Pac-10: Oregon State’s Craig Robinson (4-7) and Arizona State’s Herb Sendek (1-10)

What? That can’t be possible. We have the constant stream of national media pundits like Mike Decourcy making appearances on local talk radio telling us that somehow Sidney Lowe’s performance at NC State proves that NC State fans were wrong about Herb Sendek. I can never understand how another coach’s results prove anything about Herb Sendek. Especially, when the media guys wouldn’t let us use the results of Everette Case, Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano as reasons we weren’t 100% satisfied with Sendek.

Maybe someone should let Arizona St and their fans know that Sidney Lowe is going to fired after this season and that means that Sendek is actually doing a great job at Arizona St. Seriously, 1-10 in your conference is a good season(more on that later).

Here is a tweet from Mike Decourcy to one of his buddies in the media Seth Davis(Duke graduate) on what appears to be 12/12/2010:

Reading through @SethDavisHoops mailbag, love that 5 yrs later so many NC State fans refuse to admit they were flat wrong on Herb Sendek.

Really Mike? Do you even follow Herb Sendek since he went to ASU? 1-10 after 5 years of rebuilding?

If anyone else hasn’t noticed, then Sendek currently sits at 9-14 and in dead last in the Pac-10 at 1-10. Sendek did have a single NCAA appearance in his 3rd year after hiring the high school coach of top 3 NBA pick James Harden, but the program has gone backwards since. Sendek will not be fired this year, but another year or two of missing the NCAA tournament will certainly make his seat very hot.

Here is a comment from Seth Davis about 2 months ago:

I am rooting like heck for Sidney Lowe to get it going at N.C. State, but with the Wolfpack off to a shaky 4-3 start — and to be fair, they’re without their best big man, Tracy Smith, right now — you have to wonder if there are a few reasonable N.C. State fans who appreciate how wrong it was to run Herb Sendek out of town. Sendek could have kept his job because the administration was backing him, but he chose to bolt four years ago for Arizona State, where he has led a revival. I always cite Sendek as a great example of a coach who fired his fans.

Seth, can you please update us on that revival going on in Tempe? Thanks in advance.

When will the national pundits like Decourcy and Seth Davis and our broadcast partners at ESPN and Raycom like the G-Man, Brando, Patrick and Elmore finally give their readers/viewers an accurate picture of the Sendek issue that they still can’t seem to let go 5 years removed from Herb choosing to leave NC State. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask considering they get paid to cover college basketball and/or partner with the ACC to promote the schools in the conference.

Why is a discussion of Sendek’s results at Arizona St avoided by these guys?

The obvious answer is because Sendek’s results prove they were all wrong about Sendek’s abilities as a program changing type of coach. They should have let the issue die a long time ago, but for whatever reason they just can’t let it go. We now have almost 5 years of additional data to form opinions in this debate, so I challenge Davis, Decourcy, Patrick, the G-Man, etc…all to put together a column on how Herb’s results at Arizona St. prove that NC State fans were wrong about Herb Sendek. No mention of Sidney Lowe’s results are allowed because Sidney’s results have absolutely no relevance to proving Sendek’s abilities as a coach.

To give two of our local radio guys credit, Joe Ovies and Adam Gold have been doing a great job sharing their perspective on the Sendek issue, the upcoming NC State coaching search, etc…Honestly, I have become a huge fan of their radio show from 3-6 pm on weekdays. Gold wrote an excellent column on this exact topic after Mike Patrick blatantly lied about this issue:

With a table under the heading “last 2 head coaches, NC State Wolfpack” the ESPN crew detailed the last five years of the Herb Sendek era vs. the current 5-year Sidney Lowe regime. I don’t have to list off all the numbers because we all know what the numbers say. In fact, the numbers scream that the program was more successful under the last five seasons of Sendek’s tenure than Lowe’s first five. We all know Sendek took the Wolfpack to five straight NCAA tournaments while Sidney Lowe has watched the last five in a row. We all know that the program is not what it needs to be today even though it appeared to be on better footing five years ago.

But, we also know that while Sendek was just south of popular in Raleigh — okay think Antarctica — he wasn’t forced out in favor of the “tremendously popular Sidney Lowe”, as ESPN’s Mike Patrick tried to tell us. That is the living, breathing definition of intellectual dishonesty. Yes, Sendek was not the apple of Wolfpack fans’ eye, yes they created an atmosphere that was uncomfortable for him and his family in spite of the recent success and yes that atmosphere pushed him to seek and accept the first halfway decent sounding coaching job in the sport. But, the choice was never, at any time, between Herb Sendek and Sidney Lowe.

Here are some questions the members of the media could ask and provide us some of their own insight:

What is going on at Arizona St. now that a great coach like Herb Sendek hasn’t continued the success he had at NC State? Why was he able to get the program going so quickly, but wasn’t able to sustain the success he achieved in his third season since he has now had 5 years to rebuild the program? What obstacles is he facing at Arizona St. that are so difficult to overcome considering he was able to escape the two biggest obstacles in the world of sports – being located near UNC-CH and Duke? What is the outlook for the ASU program over the next few years? Is it going to get better?

Here is a quote from Sendek soon after he left NC State in one of Davis’ articles(sorry Seth, I can’t find a link):

Says Sendek, “It’s a tough street corner. North Carolina won the championship two years ago, Duke was ranked No. 1 in the country for most of last season, and North Carolina will probably be No. 1 at the beginning of next season. Our fans want to do favorably well against those schools. It’s just part of the territory.”

How is that street corner in Tempe working out for you, Herb?

As I said in this column less than a month ago before Sendek lost 7 consecutive Pac-10 games:

All of this proves that location relative to other top basketball programs has very little to do with your actual success as a basketball coach. If it is a factor at all(I would argue that it isn’t), then it is at best very minor. NC State’s location in one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country and one of the highest rated places to live in the entire country is actually a huge asset to an NC State basketball coach. Essentially, NC State’s location was one of the reasons Sendek made the now famous 5 straight NCAA tournaments at NC State. He had Raleigh to sell when convincing the players that made up those teams to choose NC State. Not to mention that Raleigh is drivable from almost any area on the east coast that an NC State coach would recruit. Sendek now has those factors working against him at ASU. Not that ASU isn’t in a great area, but the distances to potential recruiting territories are great….

…However, I wonder if eventually someone in the media will finally make the point that just maybe Sendek should want his job back at NC State. Or at least at a program with the resources to win that exist at NC State. He is certainly available and there are certainly better jobs with bigger opportunities in better locations. Yet, nobody has even attempted to pluck Sendek from the desert.

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49 Responses to Say it isn’t so…Sendek on the hot seat?

  1. Whiteshoes67 02/08/2011 at 5:41 PM #

    ^lmao on the above. Shocker! It should also be noted that Sendek’s moderate success at State during the second half of his tenure came at a time when the league itself was starting to decline and there were a host of average teams and few talented big men. He’s a command and control coach who simply isn’t equipped to excel against talented teams and A coaches. I’d grade him as a C+ to B- coach, and there are plenty of those out there.

  2. PoppaJohn 02/08/2011 at 5:41 PM #

    Gregg Doyel – He was on the Gold/Ovies show about a week ago and said something like, “it will be interesting to see who Yow brings to State after that idiot Fowler screwed up the last hire.” Made me look at Doyel in a whole new light.

    I too have become a Glenn/Gold/Ovies convert recently due to the fact that they basically tell the truth just based on having watched the program for a few years. On today’s show they said, (again paraphrasing) “any coach worth his salt would relish the idea of competing against Duke & UNC …”, meaning that our “neighbors” would have no negative influence in attracting a good coach to State. I totally agree with that. Any good coach expects to win and hates to lose. The reason they coach is to get the opportunity to beat the best.

    State is an excellent place to coach and I think we are going to be happy with the new hire.

  3. Sweet jumper 02/08/2011 at 5:45 PM #

    Foulup not only botched our coaching search after HWSNBN left for the desert, but he is also the one who gave HWSNBN a 6th year after 5 seasons eerily similar to Sid’s five seasons. I bet DY does not make the same mistake this spring.

  4. RedandWhite97 02/08/2011 at 5:57 PM #

    …..but wait, there’s more (from devilsdigest.com)! Some of the exact same observations we as State fans had.

    “And our offense, or lack thereof, HINDERS our players abilities. ANY basic sets would be better than what we run. . . We run this “free-flowing” motion as Herb calls it – 4 out and one post, have NO INSIDE game, and have horrible spacing on the court. PLayers RARELY can take the ball to the hoop but most importantly, because we have no effective offense, the kids, especially the young ones, have NO IDEA what a good shot is, when to shoot, when to drive, etc.

    I watch Hawkins and Chance and Felix, and they look like you said, a beaten confused dog, who has no idea whento shoot… Its nice to see when Felix pretty much says “f- this” and just plays his game – taking it to the hoop and attacking.

    I watched the CAL v UoA game last night on DVR, and cannot believe how many open shots Cal;s wings get – Crabbe/Guitterez and then running inside plays for the posts- Kamp and hyphen guy… UofA, knowing it was coming still could not stop Cal on offense when they ran their sets…

    AND CAl made a few very nice shots off of something called a SECONDARY break. Its such a difficult concept for Herb to accept, but it gets open shots for the trailer post, isloated shots for the post, and shots for the wing popping up off the trailer setting a downpick for the corner wing when the ball is swung…”

  5. wolfpack15 02/08/2011 at 5:58 PM #

    Joe Dooley would be a good hire for State. He coached at ECU about 10 years ago so he is up on the tradition of basketball in this state. He is ranked as the #1 asst. coach in the country. He has been on the coaching staff at Kansas for about 8 years. So he knows what it takes to win championships.

  6. RedandWhite97 02/08/2011 at 5:59 PM #

    ^ “We run this ‘free-flowing’ motion as Herb calls it – 4 out and one post….

    didn’t we call that the weave and heave?

  7. novawolf 02/08/2011 at 6:18 PM #

    Unfortunately when a fan looks at NC State and its 10/15/20 year records we see 5 NCAA appearances (consecutive) and all 5 of those coached by Herb Sendek. As much as we try to spin otherwise or provide explanations, to the casual, impartial, or anti-State fan (including media talking heads) the criticisms of Sendek’s record at State don’t seem fair.

    And when/if Herb gets fired aat ASU, instead of vindicating State, I can hear Mike Patrick say “it’s a shame the State/Sendek marriage had to break up. Obviously those two needed each other, but for some reason they just couldn’t get along”. OMG!!!

  8. mak4dpak 02/08/2011 at 8:41 PM #

    I couldn’t tolerate the Princeton style offense, and was glad to see Herb leave, with no championships, and tire of hearing State fired him, wish people could get the facts straight. As for Sidney, he has been a failure, even worse than Herb. So can we please finally get it right this time? At least Lee Fowler won’t factor in this decision. And I again cast my vote for Randy Bennett, and his outstanding record in 10 years, at St. Marys, and the fundamentally sound play of his teams, with his team leading the WCC. If you haven’t checked him out, you should. Young coach, not even 50, and his teams have been tops in the nation in offense. Could be a great steal for our program, that could put us back on the track to be an ACC contender.

  9. 61Packer 02/08/2011 at 9:50 PM #

    There’s lots of praise here for Gold’s take on the Sendek, but I distinctly remember hearing Gold say, over and over on the air, that Sendek was a good coach.

  10. choppack1 02/08/2011 at 10:20 PM #

    I think Sendek was/is a good coach.

    What he is NOT is a great coach. I think he’s probably an excellent assistant – and if he were to stumble upon a job like Kentucky or Kansas or Syracuse or Indiana or UCLA – he could even win a championship. I don’t think that’s going to happen unless he ends up at one of those schools as an assistant and the HC leaves in the middle of a season.

    His teams are what they are. He’s a micro-manager and a bit of a control freak. Unfortunately for him – while some micro-managers and control freaks have an ability to inspire their troops and give them confidence – ultimately, this is where Sendek fails. It’s why he hasn’t won championships and it’s why his teams have blown big leads.

    Great stuff in this link. The lack of basic integrity of these media members is really shocking. Their lack of professionalism tells us alot about their profession doesn’t it?

    Finally, if this is one thing that is fair to call the State fans who wanted Sendek on – it’s wanting the change while Fowler was in power. The coaching search and it’s ultimate result – was pretty easy to see coming. Of course, in order for the media to call Wolfpack fans out on that logical failing, they’d have to admit that Lee Fowler was totally incompetent (like Gregg Doyle did)…And none of them called him out on that – because – go figure, they lack integrity OR intelligence – take your pick.

  11. Lunatic Fringe 02/08/2011 at 10:21 PM #

    It’s about time for a couple of transfers over there at ASU now that they have gotten to experience the Herb Sendek patented fast-paced offense. King should be the first one gone.

  12. BureauOfMines 02/08/2011 at 11:34 PM #

    “The lack of basic integrity of these media members is really shocking. Their lack of professionalism tells us alot about their profession doesn’t it?”

    Lack of integrity? They know exactly what they are doing. It’s a smear campaign. It has been all along. They all seem to be reading from the same script. Previous posters are probably onto something as to the source.

    Regardless of Herb’s record at ASU and whether they ultimately get shed of him, I predict these pundits will not relent. There is plenty of negative, truthful stuff they can say about NC State Basketball right now. I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is the constant barrage of lies these commentators and pundits spare no opportunity to spew. They have the microphone. There is apparently no real opportunity for rebuttal. On and on it goes …

  13. wolfpack15 02/08/2011 at 11:46 PM #

    mak4dpak,

    I looked up Randy Bennett. After looking at his profile i would have to agree with you. That could be a good pick up for State and also bring some excitement to the offensive. Which in return would bring some excitement to the RBC Center.

  14. wolfpack15 02/09/2011 at 12:08 AM #

    I also have one last post. This has been bothering me. I know it’s off subject but i would love someone to comment on this. Why does it seem that State is the last D1 program to have alternate uniforms in football and basketball. Every other program has three sometimes four different uniform combinations. Not State! Its just red or white. Why can’t we have a black set or even a grey set. After all wolves are grey and black. And even the uniforms we have in both sports are just so blah. It makes us look so far behind times and cheap. Yes, god yes, i know we have so many other problems to worry about other than uniforms but somebody has to understand a little bit where im coming from. Please tell me what you think. Maybe im the only one that ever thinks about that. Sorry for being so off subject.

  15. Hamlet 02/09/2011 at 3:40 AM #

    Choppack,

    Guess it depends on what the definition of ‘good’ is. I used the term ‘slightly above average’ to describe him a few years ago, but his extreme stubbornness and micro-managing style has made me think that he is no better than average. To me, average does not define good.

  16. hellfishtat 02/09/2011 at 7:49 AM #

    Why on earth do you guys even care!?!?! This is one of the things that drive me away from TLF. He’s GONE! He LEFT! Leave it alone.

  17. mak4dpak 02/09/2011 at 9:17 AM #

    wolfpack 15, thanks for taking the time to check out the stats/record on Randy Bennett of St. Marys. I hope others will do the same, and recommend him to the athletic director, and board. His record is quite impressive. I could live with an impressive record at NC State.

  18. Mike 02/09/2011 at 10:05 AM #

    Wolfpack15, do you remember the unitards? We don’t need no stinkin’ alternate unis. Or, what about the pants we wore in the Gator Bowl against MSU? Enough said. Actually, we did have a black bball alternate a few years ago.

    As for me, I prefer the red/white and dont want an alternate. Red and white are our offical school colors and that is how it should stay. Gray is hideously ugly. And I certainly dont want to look like Oregon.

  19. ruffles31 02/09/2011 at 10:19 AM #

    Don’t forget the Black Uniforms brought out at Maryland. Horrible game. Never brought out again.

    Bennett is an extreme longshot to come here. He is in California with no ties to my knowledge to the ACC.

  20. NCSU84 02/09/2011 at 5:31 PM #

    More from an ASU blog:

    “He (Sendeck) has tried to recruit good talent as you said and came up empty. There is something about his style of basketball and schematics that turn the kids away. You would think he has figured that out by now. Evidently, he hasn’t. I say dump the slow game now. It is not helping the program.”

  21. mak4dpak 02/09/2011 at 6:20 PM #

    Ruffles31, at this point a long shot is worth a try, at least we shouldn’t have to pay mega bucks to bring him here, if the job appeals to Bennett. Again, it is worth a shot. He might surprise us.

  22. Astral Rain 02/09/2011 at 8:27 PM #

    Maybe we should threaten the players with having to wear the unitards unless they out-rebound an opponent.

  23. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 02/11/2011 at 10:59 AM #

    “He never made the tourn until he hired Larry Hunter.”

    Larry Hunter was the key to making Sendek’s painfully dull offense remotely successful. Also, A very hardworking guy by the name of Hodge also brought a level of success to Sendek that would never of occurred without the Hunter or Hodge.

    I do not understand how Larry Harris has kept his position with the team. I have nothing against the man and seems to be well respected, but after about 15 years (and I would guess about 2 million in pay) it doesn’t seem like he has added much to the program.

    I guess Harris can be credited for keeping State players out of the headlines to some degree.

  24. pack 75 03/28/2011 at 4:57 PM #

    I’m sure others must have said this before. If so it may bear repeating. Many (most? all?) have forgotten that Sidney was saddled with a team full of young, average-at-best talent (not too many from Herb’s State teams burning up the NBA). Since Coach Lowe didn’t have any established high school recruiting under his belt he had to start working with H.S. freshmen (with the exception of the one kid from GA with whom Herb’s kids didn’t want to play). In the meantime Sidney had to pick through the leftovers to fill out a roster. Well, his first group recruited for four years arrived and were highly touted (the next group would have been pretty good too). But they were freshmen none the less and had a bit of deer-in-the-headlights syndrome. It didn’t help that there wasn’t a leader among the upperclassmen and that the bench was still less than stellar. While Sidney may not have been a great coach (he was still on a learning curve himself) nobody in the fan base was patient enough to allow him to even try to develop the extrordinary talent he had finally shown he was able to bring to Raleigh (thanks to 10 agonizing years of patience with Sendek) – in two recruiting classes Lowe had more talent in red than Herb did in all of his. Of course, the media immediately began to stir the pot and turn up the heat, hoping to run off yet another State coach(being frustrated athlete wannabes in H.S. who could only write about sports) by bringing out the howling mob. Sidney may not have developed the program to the equal of UNC or Duke. We’ll never know now. But in another couple of years I believe the talent would have had an impact. Great, talented players have made more than one average coach great.

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