Not trying to do a web run, but just posting artcles that aren’t saying the same thing.
We will try to update them during the morning and the afternoon. Every article is going to read the same at this point.
Couple links to the N&O, Fayetteville Observer & the News & Record.
“I can’t say I’m totally surprised,� said Elizabethtown’s Mac Campbell Jr., president of the Wolfpack Club. “I’m disappointed. I hate to see him leave, but I understand. He’ll do a good job. He’s a good person. It’s a good opportunity for him.�
Longtime Wolfpack fan Greg Kalevas said the time is right for a change.
“I never thought he could take us to the next level,� said Kalevas, owner of Chris’s Steakhouse. “I don’t know if it was talent he was recruiting, the way he was coaching his kids. I’ve been there for 20-some years. The last few years it wasn’t exciting like it used to be. Players acted like they didn’t give 100 percent. You’ve got to have that kind of player to take you to the next level.
“We lost so many games at the end of the game. That comes from coaching. I don’t know if it comes from the head coach or the assistant coaches. I wish him the best.�
Fayetteville’s Bob Measamer said constant pressure from the fan base drove Sendek away.
“I’m going to be honest. I feel like Herb has come a long way with our program. I feel our players are graduating. We won 20 games for three years in a row. I look at our players on the court. It’s a clean program. I know he’s under a lot of pressure from people more interested in winning.
“I’m a little disappointed, but I can see it’s best for the overall program, definitely best for Herb.�
Arizona State did not initially seem like a likely destination, given that most of Sendek’s coaching has been done in either the Midwest or on the East Coast. But after the Sun Devils’ top candidate, Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon, elected to take a raise and stay with the Panthers, and ESPN commentator Rick Majerus withdrew, citing health reasons, ASU turned its attention to Sendek.
College sports are not supposed to be about pure entertainment, but on this Final Four weekend there’s no point in saying entertainment isn’t a big part of it at the elite levels. Winning most of the time isn’t enough. Coaches have to please the crowd. Sendek never warmed to that part of the job.
He did a commendable thing. He was true to his own personality. He can leave knowing he never made a fool of himself trying to please people who found him less exciting than masters of showmanship like Jim Valvano or Everett Case.
But Sendek, like everyone else, needed to grow when challenged and he didn’t. He dug in. When he would have done well to cultivate the media or show more responsiveness to State fans, he did less.
When you’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars in an entertainment business, you need to be entertaining. You can do that through an engaging and demonstrative personality or through the style of your team’s play, preferably both. Sendek offered neither.
Now State fans don’t have Sendek as their burden to bear. What they do have is that most unnerving of things — what they wished for.
What will State fans do? They can start by saying thanks to Herb Sendek for building a winning and highly respected program. He’s given back to the school something money can’t buy, a good reputation.
