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Q-and-A with Tom Penders

The following is an edited interview with UH men's basketball coach Tom Penders. Penders was named head coach March 23, replacing Ray McCallum. Penders is 527-361 in 30 seasons as a college head coach.

Christian Schmidt: Why come here? Why was this job the one you took?

Tom Penders: Why not?

CS: OK. Any more than that?

TP: I wasn't out seeking a job. I have a philosophy that jobs find you. I just wanted to make sure that I wanted to get back into coaching. I took my time. This isn't the first job offer I've had. I've had numerous opportunities. But the University of Houston was a job that I always looked at as one of the best basketball situations in the country. Houston was a great program, with Elvin Hayes, and the rare times college basketball was on TV back in the (1960s), it was the Houston Cougars. I had a perception as a player and a coach of a great basketball program. When I moved to Texas, I found out Houston was one of the most fertile areas for recruiting. So there was that, and then my son went to Texas and settled here, my niece works in town. I love the state as well. I grew up in Connecticut, but it's nice to be in a place where you don't have to walk around in earmuffs and a coat in winter.

CS: Let me reverse the question. Why do you think UH was looking for someone like you?

TP: Well, they haven't played up-tempo basketball since (former coach) Guy V. Lewis was here. Somebody figured out that that's key. Often when schools are successful and a coach retires or leaves, they think it wasn't the coach or his style of play, but that it was the school. I think the University of Houston was guilty of that. The up-tempo style set the Cougars apart during their great runs. They got away from that, but when you're in a city with so much competition for the entertainment dollar, you have to be a high-wire act to draw people, to draw attention, to draw the media. That's how Dave Maggard presented it to me.

CS: Everybody talks about your up-tempo style. What else do you bring as a coach?

TP: I coached the other way. When I was at Columbia and Fordham, I learned to run Princeton's offense, play match-up zones, use the clock. That was just to win, to be competitive. To win at that level, you do what you have to do. I always felt if I had more talent than my opponent we were going to get the game up-tempo and get more possessions than our opponents, whether its through defense, offensive rebounding or not turning the ball over. We'll be sound fundamentally on offense and we'll be aggressive on defense.

CS: How is recruiting going for you?

TP: Well, we'll know soon enough. I think we're going to have a really good recruiting class. We have verbal commitments and all that and some others that we're excited about that will visit this weekend and next weekend.

CS: How nice is it to come in here and already have (former Texas assistant) Melvin Haralson on the staff?

TP: If Melvin was anywhere else, he'd be the first guy I'd hire. He was one of the very best that I had. I hated to lose him, probably one of the biggest mistakes I made was I should have pushed someone else out and kept him. But he's a closer, he's sincere, he's a solid guy.

CS: You've cultivated a reputation as a rebuilder of programs. Do you ever think you'd like to take a job where you don't have to rebuild?

TP: No. I did that once and I didn't like it. I didn't like people saying 'this is how we've been doing it and why should we change?' It's much more fun when the program is at rock-bottom and things turn around than to take something that's already there. Some guys are good at that. I'm not, I didn't like it. Life is about that. I tell kids that a lot. If they can find a job they would do in their leisure time for nothing and get paid for it, then you're not really working -- it's a passion, a love. I love doing that. It's not easy, but there is a tremendous amount of satisfaction when you do turn the corner.

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