All the Kings' Men: Sendek Succeeds Pitino as Top Producer of Head Coaches

For whatever reason, some mentors have a knack for developing NCAA Division I head coaches. Rick Pitino had the most ex-assistants (14) currently serving as DI bench bosses before Louisville changed the locks to his office.

Oklahoma's Lon Kruger (eight) has more former aides presently piloting DI programs than luminaries such as Kansas' Bill Self (six), Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (five), North Carolina's Roy Williams (five), Kentucky's John Calipari (four), Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (two) and Michigan State's Tom Izzo (two). But Kruger is locked in as runner-up to Santa Clara's Herb Sendek regarding most prolific producer of proteges in a DI head-coaching capacity.

Coincidentally, Sendek was an assistant coach at Providence and UK under Pitino for a total of six seasons. Former Miami (Ohio) assistant Thad Matta departed Ohio State, but following is an alphabetical list of the 12 active DI head coaches previously serving on a Sendek staff (six with Arizona State/four with Miami of Ohio/four with North Carolina State/one with Santa Clara):