After a meeting with Athletic Director Ray Anderson Tuesday morning, Herb Sendek was informed that he will no longer be the head coach of the ASU men’s basketball team, per media reports. The meeting was first reported by SunDevilSource.com Monday night.
The Sun Devils finished the 2014-15 season with an 18-16 record and finished 9-9 in the Pac-12. Rumblings about Sendek’s job status began following ASU’s loss to USC in the Pac-12 Tournament in which the Sun Devils blew a 15-point second-half lead, which appears to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Sendek finished his career at ASU with a record of 159-137 in nine seasons at ASU, leading the program to two NCAA Tournaments in 2009 and 2014. Those teams went 1-2, with the lone win coming over Temple in 2009.
Sendek’s tenure with the Sun Devils will mostly be remembered for producing James Harden and disappointment. In his final three seasons in Tempe, Sendek’s teams went 1-3 in the Pac-12 Tournament and the final two losses were as the higher seeded team.
The season concluded with an overtime loss to Richmond in the second round of the NIT. In four trips to the NIT under Sendek, the Sun Devils had a record of 4-4.
Anderson said last week on his weekly interview with Arizona Sports 98.7 FM’s Bickley and Marotta that a decision had to be made for the best of Sun Devil Athletics and it had to be made based on the whole picture, not just parts of it.
“You have to take an objective view of the entire season from start to finish, in terms of the goals you set for yourselves, the metrics, the accountability,” Anderson said. “So it’s not one game. It’s not the (Feb. 7) win against Arizona; it’s not the (Feb. 18) win against UCLA that determines the way forward. It’s the complete accumulation of things that you evaluate. And you do it objectively (and) non-emotionally.”
Media reports have linked Memphis coach Josh Pastner and UC-Irvine coach Russell Turner to the now-open coaching job, but nothing certain has been revealed as of yet.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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