Houston will not bring Tom Penders back as the men's basketball coach next season, FanHouse learned Sunday.An official announcement is expected to come Monday.
Penders met with the school's athletic director Mack Rhoades on Saturday and then again Sunday afternoon. It is not yet know whether it will be a buyout of the remaining two years of Penders' contract, reassign him or if the coach will announce his retirement. Penders, 64, would be paid in the neighborhood of $500,000 if the schools buys out his contract.
Former Kentucky and Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie, who was the head coach at UTEP while Rhoades was a senior athletics official there, is the leading candidate for the job. Additionally, University of Texas assistant Rodney Terry and Sam Houston State Bobby Marlin are also in the mix. Former Mavericks coach Avery Johnson is also interested in the position.
Penders led the Cougars back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992 this season after winning the Conference USA championship. The Cougars lost to Maryland 89-77 in the tournament's opening round. Penders, who is 121-77 in six seasons at UH, became only the fourth coach to take four different teams to the NCAA tournament this season.
Penders' Cougars (19-16) got hot during the C-USA tournament, winning four straight games after going 7-9 in regular-season league play. Some thought Penders may have saved his job by making the tournament, but Rhoades had to ultimately consider the long-term health of the basketball program.
The problem for Penders has been the lost energy around the UH program in recent years combined with the availability of Gillispie, who was ousted at UK after last season. Hofheinz Pavilion, once the rocking home to Phi Slamma Jamma in the early 1980s, has become a ghost town in recent years and is in desperate need of renovation.
FanHouse reported Tuesday that Penders would likely be fired following the NCAA tournament.
Penders 39-year coaching career has included stops at Tufts, Columbia, Fordham, Rhode Island, Texas, George Washington and Houston. He led Rhode Island, UT, George Washington and the Cougars to the NCAA tournament.
Neither Penders nor Rhoades returned messages left through the sports information office Sunday.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
While i'm not a big UK basketball fan i will say that i wasn't at all impressed with him when he was coaching here in Lexington. He's arrogant as hell and his players didn't even like him. Good luck to Houston if they hire him.
This guy is winning at a 62% win clip, makes the NCAA, and gets fired by an athletic department that waited 19 years to get back to the NCAA, and plays in a facility that is dire need of repairs-and this is OK why? I can't believe the decisions some AD's have made by firing HC's that are making programs better-such as just happened here and at Auburn to name 2 stupid firings. Even in FB where Mike Leach was let go, the circumstances are the same-a HC is doing well and ANYONE that says ANYTHING derogatory about the HC gets him terminated. I think the AD should be the one accountable in cases like this, and their tenure tied into the program that pays the bills for the entire atheltic deparment. I hope the next HC fails simply to rid Houston of this particular AD-and the same at Auburn and Texas Tech.
"such as just happened here and at Auburn to name 2 stupid firings."
You have got to be out of your mind. Auburn had only had one post season tournament in 6 seasons and that was the NIT. you have to be insane if you think 6 seasons is not long enough to turn a program around
The showers in the basketball arena have not worked in at least SIX years.
For the people that honestly believe ANY new coach is going to magically bring a powerhouse team to Houston, well, your just plain wrong. Why would kids WANT to play there? It sure is not the city that draws them there, or the people, or the,,,well, Houston, overall, is a hole.
will this impact Joe Young's decision to leave town and head to the Big East?