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Sports

Penders stays, a comeback anticipated

by CHRIS ELLIOTT
The Daily Cougar

In the years preceding the arrival of UH head coach Tom Penders, an 18-win season would have been a godsend. However, the Cougars recent 18-15 campaign was considered a down year -- the expectations have been raised.

UH Director of Athletics Dave Maggard brought Penders in with the intention of winning games, restoring a fallen program's prestige and raising the expectations of both the fans and players. Penders has done that, and for the third consecutive season "Turnaround Tom" has received a contract extension.

"We need to have very strong programs," Maggard said earlier in an interview discussing the state of the athletics department. "And part of that is setting the expectations high. You can't do anything unless you have expectations."

Maggard announced Wednesday that Penders would get another one-year contract extension and would stay at UH at least until the 2012 season, with the intention of getting the Cougars back into the NCAA tournament -- a stage they dominated in the mid 80s. 

"We have an excellent staff with coach Penders and all the other folks. So yeah, it's been a good year in basketball," Maggard said. "We're going to get there in basketball. We'll continue to get better. It's not a matter of if we're going to get to the NCAA's, it's just when. ... Just like I said it's going to happen that we're going to win a championship in football and we did it this last year."

In his first three seasons coaching the Cougars, Penders (57-39) stands as the quickest coach to eclipse the 50-win marker in UH history. He did it in 83 games. 

UH preseason All-Conference USA point guard Lanny Smith is expected to lead the team, after red-shirting his senior season. Also, unlike the 18-15 team Penders coached to third place in Conference USA with two seniors, next year's team will consist of six seniors and eight players that have received consistent playing time.
 

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