Penders, Program to Undergo Annual Review Last Edited: Thursday, 19 Mar 2009, 9:00 PM CDT Created On: Thursday, 19 Mar 2009, 9:00 PM CDT * MARK BERMAN HOUSTON - The University of Houston gave the newly created College Basketball Invitational a shot the past two years and that is all the CBI will get from the Cougars. Houston lost to Oregon State in the first round Wednesday 49-45. Athletics Director Dave Maggard said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports Thursday, as long as he is running the program, the Cougars will accept invitations from the NCAA Tournament or the National Invitation Tournament and that's it. "That's a tournament that we will not participate in the future," said Maggard. "If we're not good enough to be in the NCAA or the NIT, we will not participate in the CBI. "We have to continue to have expectations to be in the NCAA or the NIT. Our expectation and our goal should always be the NCAA." Maggard said he has informed his coaching staff of his position on the College Basketball Invitational. "So CBI, (we) indicated that we would try it for two years," Maggard said. "We tried it for two years. CBI is no longer in the plans in any regard." The University of Houston has not played in an NCAA Tournament game since 1992. The school has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1984. "We need to get rid of that kind of history," Maggard said. "The history of not being in the NCAA." Like what happened following the 2008-2009 season. In Head Coach Tom Penders fifth year on the job Houston was 21 and 12 but failed to reach the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. On Penders watch the Cougars own two NIT appearances to go with the two in the CBI. Penders has three years left on his contract with the University of Houston. He and his program will undergo the annual evaluation by Maggard. "With every coach we go through an evaluation period at the end of the year and we'll do that," Maggard said. "We will evaluate and review every aspect of our basketball program, in addition to Tom evaluating the assistant coaches. That will take place this next week. That's not out of the ordinary." Maggard said he saw no reason to go into further detail about his plans. "I know people people would like for me to say a lot more," Maggard said. "I'm not going to do that because I am going to give us an opportunity to evaluate things objectively without making somebody think one thing or another." In five years on the job at Houston Penders owns a record of 102-61. A college basketball head coach for 35 years, Penders had his greatest success at the University of Texas. In ten years as the Longhorns head coach he took them to the NCAA Tournament eight times, reaching the Elite Eight in 1990. Penders has also coached at Tufts, Columbia, Fordham, Rhode Island, and George Washington. Penders has not been available for comment.
This makes sense especially after the speech President Khator gave to our class in my Chemistry class about being recognized by the NCAA.
How far is the current UH-team from being a participant in the NCAA-tournament? Sad that a team with with all-time greats like Hayes, Clyde, Hakeem etc. ain't even close former greatness.
Well, the NIT is a 32 team tournament. The CBI doesn't have seeds but for the sake of argument let's say they were middle of the pack and the 8th best team in the tourney. That's roughly 40 other teams that would have made the NCAA Tourney before them.
starts with the coach- horrible recruiting. We live in the city of Houston, talent should not be hard to find. Stop doing that JUCO BS and start getting legit 4 year players- thats how you build a program. Im pretty tired of Penders' approach now. I'll give him one year in a Calipari-less C-USA to make the tourney or he needs to be fired.
Good post. I could not agree more. Penders needs to give up going the JUCO route. Go out and recruit the local scene. I'm tired of hearing the same excuses about different players.
Exactly. If UH hasn't already made a play on Gillispie (though I'm sure several better schools already have), they need to get to it. Get rid of Penders. I don't like his recruiting, his on-court schemes, or his past. Just forget him. Make a big money grab at a quality coach, or try to find an up and comer. But don't just hire washed up guys who can't coach their ways out of paper bags.