Tom Penders

Thomas Vincent Penders (born May 23, 1945) is a retired college basketball head coach, who last coached from 2004 through 2010 at the University of Houston. He is from Stratford, Connecticut[1] and has a 649–437 career record. As a college athlete, Penders played both basketball and baseball for the University of Connecticut, and is one of the few players to have competed in both the NCAA Tournament as well as the College World Series.[2]

Tom Penders
Biographical details
Born (1945-05-23) May 23, 1945
Stratford, Connecticut
Playing career
1964–1967UConn
Position(s)Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1971–1974Tufts
1974–1978Columbia
1978–1986Fordham
1986–1988Rhode Island
1988–1998Texas
1998–2001George Washington
2004–2010Houston
Head coaching record
Overall649–437
Tournaments12–10 (NCAA Division I)
1–8 (NIT)
2–2 (CBI)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
MAAC Tournament (1983)
3 SWC regular season (1992, 1994, 1995)
2 SWC Tournament (1994, 1995)
C-USA Tournament (2010)
Awards
Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (1987)
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2021

Prior to his last job as Houston's head coach, Penders was a sports analyst for ESPN and Westwood One Radio.[3] He also has been the head coach for Tufts, Columbia, Fordham, Rhode Island, Texas, and George Washington.

Coaching career

High school

Penders posted a 59–10 record as a high school coach at Bullard-Havens Tech and Bridgeport Central High School in Connecticut. He led Bullard-Havens to a 14–6 record in his first season as a head coach. The next year, he guided Bridgeport Central to a 23–2 record and a number two ranking in the state. The following year, he was named the New York Daily News Coach of the Year after leading Bridgeport to a 20–1 mark and Number one ranking.[2]

Tufts, Columbia, Fordham

Penders began his collegiate coaching career at Tufts University in 1971, and compiled a 54–18 record in three seasons.[2] On October 6, 2006, Penders and his 1972-73 Tufts team were inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Next Penders coached for four seasons at Columbia University. In his final two years there, Penders led the school to back-to-back winning seasons.[2]

After Columbia, Penders moved to Fordham University where he remained for eight years and compiled a 125–114 record. In 1980–81, Penders was named the New York Metropolitan Area Coach of the Year after leading Fordham to a 19–9 record.[2] On January 26, 2013, Penders was inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame.[4]

Rhode Island

Penders took over Rhode Island's program on October 4, 1986, two weeks before the regular season began. He was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Co-Coach of the Year after guiding the Rams to a 20–10 record and a berth into the NIT his first year.[2]

In 1988, Penders led the Rams to the 1988 NCAA Sweet 16 with wins over Missouri and Syracuse before eventually losing to Duke.[2]

Texas

In his 10 seasons at the University of Texas, Penders compiled a 208–110 record. During his time there, he became the winningest basketball coach in school history (although now passed by former Texas and now Tennessee coach Rick Barnes). He led the Longhorns to three Southwest Conference championships and eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight in 1990, and the Sweet 16 in 1997. His teams at Texas averaged 20.8 wins per season, 87.2 points per game, and forced 19 turnovers per contest.

When Penders was hired in 1988, he inherited a team that won 16 games the year before; the Erwin Center (the Longhorns' home court) averaged 4,028 fans per game (in a 16,231-seat arena). Immediately after his arrival, Penders switched to a more uptempo offense, and called his team the "Runnin' Horns." His first team finished second in the Southwest Conference and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns also set 22 school and SWC records while more than doubling their attendance average to 10,011 per game, the largest increase in NCAA Division I.[2]

In his final year at Texas, Penders underwent heart surgery and was unable to coach the first few games of what would end up being a tumultuous season.[5]

His tenuous departure from Texas was the subject of a book, Burned Orange by Kyle Dalton.[6]

George Washington

Penders served as head coach at the George Washington University from 1998 to 2001, where he compiled a 49–42 record and led the Colonials to the NCAA Tournament.[2]

Houston

Penders came to Houston after spending three years as an analyst for ESPN and Westwood One Radio.[3] In his first season at the University of Houston, Penders guided the Cougars to the nation's fourth-best turnaround with an 18–14 overall record and Houston led the nation in turnover margin and set both team and individual school records for most three-point field goals made in a season.[2]

In his second season, Penders led the Cougars to their first 20-win season, first back-to-back winning seasons, and first back-to-back postseason tournament appearances since 1992–93. He also led Houston to back-to-back wins over nationally ranked teams for the first time since the 1984 NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament and their first postseason tournament victory since 1988 in his first two years at the school, in the NIT.[2]

Houston finished the 2005-06 campaign with a 2–2 record against nationally ranked teams after beating No. 25 LSU on November 29 and 13th-ranked Arizona December 3 in a nationally televised game on ESPN2. Houston's postseason tournament victory was against BYU in the first round of the 2006 NIT. It also was Penders’ first career victory in the NIT. Houston led the nation in steals with a 12.4 average, and the Cougars finished second in turnover margin with an average margin of +7.5.[2]

Penders led the Houston Cougars to the Conference USA championship game in 2010 where they defeated UTEP for their first NCAA Tournament berth in 18 years.[2] This made him only the 8th coach to take 4 different schools to the NCAA tournament.

Penders resigned as coach of Houston on March 22, 2010 following a first round loss to Maryland in the NCAA tournament.

College playing career

Penders played both baseball and basketball at the University of Connecticut, where he starred as a center fielder for the baseball team and a point guard for the basketball team from 1964 to 1967.[2]

Family

In addition to Tom and Tommy, Jr. serving as basketball coaches, his father was a longtime baseball coach at Stratford High School from 1931 to 1968, and led the school to four state championships. His brother, Jim, is the baseball coach at East Catholic High School, and was named the national high school Coach of the Year in 1996. Like his father, Jim Penders won four state championships.[2]

His two nephews also are collegiate baseball coaches. Jim was named the head coach at Connecticut in 2003 after serving seven years as an assistant coach and playing four years for the Huskies. Rob serves as the head baseball coach at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas.[2]

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Tufts Jumbos (New England Small College Athletic Conference) (1971–1974)
1971–72 Tufts 12–8
1972–73 Tufts 22–4
1973–74 Tufts 20–6
Tufts: 54–18
Columbia Lions (Ivy League) (1974–1978)
1974–75 Columbia 4–222–12T–7th
1975–76 Columbia 8–176–8T–4th
1976–77 Columbia 16–108–63rd
1977–78 Columbia 15–1111–3T–2nd
Columbia: 43–6027–29
Fordham Rams (NCAA Division I independent) (1978–1981)
1978–79 Fordham 7–22
1979–80 Fordham 11–17
1980–81 Fordham 19–9NIT First Round
Fordham Rams (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) (1981–1986)
1981–82 Fordham 18–118–22ndNIT First Round
1982–83 Fordham 19–117–3T–2ndNIT First Round
1983–84 Fordham 19–157–74thNIT First Round
1984–85 Fordham 19–129–52ndNIT First Round
1985–86 Fordham 13–177–7T–4th
Fordham: 125–11438–24
Rhode Island Rams (Atlantic 10 Conference) (1986–1988)
1986–87 Rhode Island 20–1012–63rdNIT First Round
1987–88 Rhode Island 28–714–42ndNCAA Division I Sweet 16
Rhode Island: 48–17 (.739)26–10
Texas Longhorns (Southwest Conference) (1988–1996)
1988–89 Texas 25–912–42ndNCAA Division I Second Round
1989–90 Texas 24–912–43rdNCAA Division I Elite Eight
1990–91 Texas 23–913–32ndNCAA Division I Second Round
1991–92 Texas 23–1211–3T–1stNCAA Division I First Round
1992–93 Texas 11–174–107th
1993–94 Texas 26–812–21stNCAA Division I Second Round
1994–95 Texas 23–711–3T–1stNCAA Division I Second Round
1995–96 Texas 21–1010–43rdNCAA Division I Second Round
Texas Longhorns (Big 12 Conference) (1996–1998)
1996–97 Texas 18–1210–6T–3rdNCAA Division I Sweet 16
1997–98 Texas 14–176–109th
Texas: 208–110103–48
George Washington Colonials (Atlantic 10 Conference) (1998–2001)
1998–99 George Washington 20–913–31st (West)NCAA Division I First Round
1999–00 George Washington 15–159–7T–2nd (West)
2000–01 George Washington 14–186–107th
George Washington: 49–4228–20
Houston Cougars (Conference USA) (2004–2010)
2004–05 Houston 18–149–7T–4thNIT First Round
2005–06 Houston 21–109–54thNIT Second Round
2006–07 Houston 18–1510–63rd
2007–08 Houston 24–1011–53rdCBI Semifinal
2008–09 Houston 21–1210–6T–4thCBI First Round
2009–10 Houston 19–167–97thNCAA Division I First Round
Houston: 121–7756–38
Total:648–438

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2011-01-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. http://www.uhcougars.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/penders_tom00.html
  3. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5018573
  5. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/10/sports/plus-college-basketball-texas-penders-recovering-after-heart-surgery.html
  6. Amazon.com
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