Sendek Among 100 Most Influential in College Basketball

NC State fans still might not think highly of former basketball coach Herb Sendek, but others do. He's the only one with Wolfpack ties either past or present included on a list of the 100 most influential people in college basketball in 2020

It's been 14 years since Herb Sendek ended his contentious tenure as NC State's basketball coach. But to this day, his name still holds a negative connotation among Wolfpack fans, even though he led the team to the NCAA tournament in each of his final five seasons in Raleigh.

But not everyone is as down on him.

Now the coach at Santa Clara, Sendek has been included on a list compiled by Silver Waves Media of the 100 most influential people in men's college basketball in 2020. He is the only member of that group with any connection with the Wolfpack.

Here's what the compilers of the list had to say about him:

"Sendek’s combination of 12 current head coaches that fall under his coaching tree along with his 5 NBA Draft picks make him a pretty impressive influencer. Ron Hunter (Akron), Archie Miller (Indiana), Sean Miller (Arizona), Eric Musselman (Arkansas), Dedrique Taylor (Cal State Fullerton), Jim Christian (Boston College), Scott Pera (Rice), James Whitford (Ball State), Barret Peery (Portland State), Rob Senderoff (Kent State), John Groce (Akron), and Stan Johnson (LMU) all fall under that category for Sendek. In fact, with a couple more coaches that you can indirectly trace back to Sendek, by our calculations Sendek’s tree is good for about the fourth or fifth largest among all active college coaches. The feat derives from the amount of success and the amount of respect Sendek has amongst people within the industry. He has earned Coach of the Year awards in three different conferences throughout his career and has taken three different teams to the NCAA Tournament with one Sweet Sixteen. His most notable NBA player is James Harden, followed by Julius Hodge and Wally Szcerbiak."

Along with Sendek, others with ACC ties either past and present among the 100 most influential people in college basketball this year include former Duke guard and current Harvard coach Tommy Amaker, Virginia coach Tony Bennett, former Duke forward and ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, commissioner John Swofford and associate commissioner for basketball Paul Brazeau, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, former Maryland star John Lucas, Louisville coach Chris Mack and North Carolina coach Roy Williams.