Topic: Herb Sendek

Herbert J. Sendek (born February 22, 1963 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States) is the head basketball coach at Arizona State University.

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 of Ohio 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.

Sendek was hired at NC State in 1996 after three years of success at Miami (Ohio), his first head coaching experience. He immediately improved upon the Les Robinson era since internal restriction applied to Robinson were relaxed, 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. Despite this improvement, Sendek was never able to achieve success on the level of prior NCSU coaches Everett Case, Press Marivich, Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano.