Might have been, if not Pike

[MADHAT1]

An article about a person that at one time some wanted Rutgers to hire after Jordan was fired

Herb had some success at NCSt ( 191–132 > 9 NIT & NCAA appearances in 10 years , with 5 straight NCCA invites before he left there) At ASU he was nothing to write home to mother about ( 159–137> 2 NCAA bids and 4 NIT appearances in his 9 years there )

But after the way Freddie Jr and Eddie ran the program , he looked like a real winner to some and if a competent, but not great HC was to be the pick, I felt Herb wouldn't be a bad choice, just not a real good one if Rutgers was going to be a constant top 25 team

Originally hired on March 29, 2016, Sendek is entering his 10th season as the Broncos’ head coach in 2025-26. During his previous nine seasons, he has put together a 161-120 (.573) record, and has the fourth-most wins in program history.



https://hoopdirt.com/santa-clara-extends-sendek-through-2029-30/

 

[RU0917]

I remember being won over to the pro-Herb crowd for a bit post-EJ, though I thought Pike was a solid hire when he was ultimately the guy. With the benefit of hindsight, my best guess is Herb would have topped out at similar success to the best Pike teams - he would have gotten us to respectability but probably not much higher. Good solid coach though, who's done pretty well at Santa Clara overall.

 

[MADHAT1]

I remember being won over to the pro-Herb crowd for a bit post-EJ, though I thought Pike was a solid hire when he was ultimately the guy. With the benefit of hindsight, my best guess is Herb would have topped out at similar success to the best Pike teams - he would have gotten us to respectability but probably not much higher. Good solid coach though, who's done pretty well at Santa Clara overall.

Agree , Herblike Pike would be in the Gary Waters class > close, but not quite good enough.
They are good coaches but not good enough to make Rutgers into a constant NCAA participant.
Sendek went to ASU brinigng high hopes with him, but left the fanbase feeling disappointed the way
the program never became a constant NCAA program under him
Like Pike as the RU MBB HC , he won more than he lost at ASU but didn't make the program into a constant NCAA participant.

 

[RU0917]

Agree , Herblike Pike would be in the Gary Waters class > close, but not quite good enough.
They are good coaches but not good enough to make Rutgers into a constant NCAA participant.

Sendek territory is sort of the basketball equivalent of Glen Mason territory - both in the good-but-not-great results and the fact that the places they've coached haven't exactly set the world on fire either before or after they were there. NC State is probably about to blow up with Wade but has mostly been up and down since Herb - same with Arizona State. Run him off at your own risk.