North Carolina State University Athletics
Sendek Stays the Course
11/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2004
By Tim Peeler
Herb Sendek heard the talk. He knew that he was being criticized, that to people on the outside, his job seemed to be in jeopardy.
""I wasn't on Walden's Pond, unaware of what was happening around me,'' Sendek said a few weeks ago. ""I certainly wasn't oblivious to the criticism and the questioning. I was aware it was going on. But to the best of my ability I really have tried to stay focused on the things I can control and to continue to give my best effort and improve as a coach.''
Back in February, 2001, NC State athletics director Lee Fowler gave Sendek a strong show of support, in hopes of putting an end to the speculation about the coach's future with the program.
What has happened since then has justified that show of support.
Sendek brought in a five-player recruiting class that should now be mentioned with the seven-player class that Norm Sloan landed in 1971, which included David Thompson, Monte Towe and Tim Stoddard. Or the 1979 class Sloan recruited that included the nucleus of Jim Valvano's 1983 championship team: Dereck Whittenburg, Sidney Lowe and Thurl Bailey.
Sendek's class of Julius Hodge, Ilian Evtimov, Josh Powell, Levi Watkins, Jordan Collins, has been instrumental in taking the Wolfpack to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments. They have taken the Wolfpack to the ACC Championship game two of the last three years. Sendek now ranks third in seniority among ACC coaches, behind Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Maryland's Gary Williams, and second to Krzyzewski in producing assistants who have gone on to become head coaches.
Last year, the Wolfpack finished second in the ACC regular-season standings, earning Hodge the ACC Player of the Year Award and Sendek the ACC Coach of the Year Award.
While Sendek downplays his role in the success of the last three years, the coach has gained an appreciation from his peers and his boss.
"I feel like from the end of last season, throughout this summer, Herb seems like a coach who is much more comfortable with himself,'' Fowler said. "As my granddaddy used to say, he is more comfortable in his own skin."He seems more relaxed.''
Fowler remembers having a conversation with Krzyzewski over the summer about Sendek, who has always had the respect of the Blue Devil coach.
"Mike told me he thought Herb seemed a lot more comfortable with the players that he was recruiting, with how his team was playing and what he was doing. He has found a good niche for himself.''
Other coaches agree. Both Williams and Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt identified Sendek as one of the league's most under-rated coaches. "When I got in this league, I knew he was a tremendous coach, one that is very well prepared, very well organized in recruiting," Hewitt said. "Some of the things I read when I first got here, I was thinking, "That is not the Herb Sendek I know.'"The thing I know is this: every time we play them, it's a heckuva game. I also know they have beaten us five times in a row."
Sendek treats the accolades and compliments in much the same way as he treated some previous criticism. He knows its there, but he's not paying too much attention to it.
"I don't think sports is one of those things where you ever arrive," Sendek said. "I personally never looked at it that way. I try to approach each season, each team, to the best of my ability and really just stay focused on doing the best job I can for our team and for our basketball program and continue to get better myself every year. "I have continued to learn and grow and, hopefully, I will continue to move forward."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
