North Carolina State University Athletics
Hunter And Sendek Will Now Sit Side By Side
5/22/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
May 22, 2001
By Tony Haynes
There was a time not very long ago when Herb Sendek and Larry Hunter were bitter rivals. Sendek, the coach at perennial MAC power Miami of Ohio and Hunter, the coach at upstart Ohio University, aspired to whip each other into submission when their teams met in the early to mid-1990s.
"We had one incident where we almost got into a fight at halfcourt like Rick Pitino and John Thompson," Sendek cracked on Tuesday. "But other than that we were good friends. We had a mutual respect for each other. At the time, both of our teams were doing well. We battled each other in recruiting as well as on the court. We got to know each other at some of the league meetings and became good friends."
Out of that rivalry grew a great respect for one another, and now, the two coaches will be working together on Sendek's staff at NC State.
Hunter, fired as the head coach at Ohio despite a 19-11 record last season, has been hired to replace Wolfpack assistant Sean Miller, who accepted a similar position last week at Xavier.
"The Ohio-Miami rivalry is a great one. It's probably like North Carolina and NC State," Hunter said. "When Herb was at Miami, you knew he was a rising star. I've called him a lot of years before the season started and we always talked basketball. I think that's how our relationship really got going."
Said Sendek: "Ironically, one of the first phone calls I made when I got the job at NC State was to coach Hunter. Having been in the same league and having competed against him, I was very anxious to get an unbiased appraisal of our teams at Miami. I wanted to capture his insights, what he thought we did well, what he thought we didn't do well. Sometimes when you're so close to it, someone else who is competing against you can look at you and nail something that you're missing although you're right there every day. Of all the guys we had competed against, he's the one guy I wanted to talk to. He commands that type of respect in our profession. I think we're very fortunate here at NC State to be able to secure his services."
Hunter will certainly be one of the most experienced assistants in the country next season. In 25 years as a head coach, he posted an overall record of 509-224. His release from the Bobcats came as a surprise, given his won-loss record (204-148) and an 85 percent graduation rate in his program.
"It was something I wasn't expecting to be honest with you," Hunter said of his dismissal. "We competed for the regular season championship until the last game of the year. We really had a great year. It was a young team with just about everybody returning. The team had great chemistry and had a lot of good things going. But those things happen, and I'm a firm believer that things happen for a purpose."
At NC State, Hunter will focus most of his attention on coaching, teaching and assisting Sendek in the development of game strategies. With Miller now gone, second year assistant Mark Phelps will add recruiting to his list of duties.
As a team next season, NC State will be smaller, quicker and perhaps more skilled than it's been in recent years. Hunter and Sendek both agree that college basketball is evolving into a game that features more perimeter players who have the ability to score both inside and out.
"The days of having a post man who plays close to the basket and isn't very mobile has kind of been passed by," Hunter said. "There are still good big men in the game, but they are so much more versatile, so much more athletic and so much more skilled with the ball. That makes offenses much more difficult to defend when you can have a team of interchangeable parts. You create some match-up problems because you have different ways of scoring."
Hunter's synopsis of college basketball as a whole probably describes the philosophy NC State will carry into next season. With or without forward Damien Wilkins, who is at least considering the option of turning pro, the Pack will have a totally different look next season. With forwards Kenny Inge, Damon Thornton and center Ron Kelley now graduated, NC State will rely on a more perimeter-oriented attack.
"I like the composition of our team," Sendek said. "Would everyone of us like to have a Shaquille O'Neal or someone of that size? Sure. But I think where we might be a little short in some areas, we'll make up for on the other end of the floor."
And with the addition of a former coaching rival in Larry Hunter, Sendek's staff won't be short on coaching experience.
