Sendek to be Named ASU's Next Hoops Coach

North Carolina State’s head coach Herb Sendek has accepted a contract offer from Arizona State and will be named the men's basketball team's head coach. An announcement is likely to come in the next 48-72 hours.

Herb Sendek, 43, has been the head coach at North Carolina State since 1996. In his first season, the Wolfpack went 17-15 and posted the program's first winning record in six years. That year they also made it to the ACC Tournament finals and gained a berth in the NIT. His recent years at Raleigh brought even more success. In the 2005-06 season the Wolfpack were victorious in eight of its final 11 games, and won 20-plus games (22-10, 10-6) for the third consecutive year and fourth time in five seasons. Furthermore, N.C. State made the NCAA Tournament in five consecutive seasons for only the second time in school history. N.C. State lost to Texas in the second round of the 2006 NCAA tournament, and reached the Sweet Sixteen the year before.

The Wolfpack finished second in the ACC in field-goal percentage defense (41.3) and second in free-throw percentage (.751). Sendek’s style of play has been described as deliberate, which hasn’t denied him success in the usually high scoring ACC. He was named ACC coach of the year in 2004. He is also known as an elite recruiter, who has landed many Top-20 classes.

Sendek’s college coaching career has been heavily intertwined with coaching great Rick Pitino. He joined Pitino's staff at Providence as an assistant coach between the years of 1987 and 1989, and went to the final four in his first year with the Friars. In 1993 he made it again to the Final Four, this time as Pitino's assistant at Kentucky, where he served from 1989-93. In his last two years at Lexington he was promoted to associate head coach. His first head coaching job, between 1993-96 was at Miami (Ohio), where the team made the post-season each of his three years, including the NCAA tournament in 1995 where they lost in the second round.

Sendek’s record in his ten seasons at N.C. State is 170-118 (.590), and he has an overall record of 232-144 (.617). His 170 career wins trail only Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (25 years) and Maryland's Gary Williams (16 years) among ACC current league coaches. His contract doesn't expire until after the 2010 season, but there seems to be some discontent from the Wolfpack’s faithful over his performance. While he reportedly is on solid ground with the school’s administration, the media in Raleigh believes that he has been shopping himself for vacant coaching positions since season’s end.