Rob Senderoff got his start in coaching basketball at the University at Albany as a student assistant under coach Richard “Doc” Sauers.
Over thirty years later, Senderoff returns to Albany as the head coach of Kent State, a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“For my team, we could have played any place, and it would have been awesome,” Senderoff said. “For me personally, it was cool to see that it was Albany.”
The Golden Flashes (28-6, 15-3 Mid American Conference) face No. 4 Indiana in the final first-round game at MVP Arena. The Midwest Region matchup tips off at 9:55 p.m. Friday.
Senderoff knew he wanted to be a coach when he arrived at UAlbany but credits Sauers and former Great Dane assistant James Jones (now the head coach at Yale) with helping him achieve his goal.
“Had they not given me the opportunity to do that (be a student assistant), then I probably would have chosen to do something different with my life because I never would have had the chance in college to experience what I experienced,” Senderoff said.
The first time Jones met him, Senderoff was in the team’s offices asking to take Sauers’ class on coaching basketball.
After unsuccessfully trying out for the team, Senderoff became Jones’ assistant.
“He was tremendous for me at that age,” Jones recalled. The two stayed in touch, and when Jones was hired at Yale, Senderoff was the first call he made.
Though it’s been a while since Senderoff worked under Sauers, he still carries on one particular practice of Sauers’: emphasizing “wego” stats.
Those are “things that help we as a team play well as opposed to ego, things that are for you,” Senderoff explained.
Kent State keeps track of stats like deflections, taking charges and setting screens for assists. At the…
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