Introduction
Robert Andrew Senderoff (born July 25, 1973) is the head men's basketball coach at Kent State University.
In September 2010, The Hoop Scoop rated him as the fourth-best Mid-Major assistant basketball coach in the nation. In May 2015, Kent State extended his contract by five years.
Personal and early life
Senderoff is a native of Spring Valley, New York.He played basketball for his high school team.He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from University at Albany in 1995, and was also a student assistant with the basketball program.
He then moved on to Miami University, where he was a graduate assistant and earned a master's degree in sports studies in 1997. He is married to Lauren (nee Edelstein), and has two daughters, Samantha Brooke and Rachel. He is Jewish, and is a member of Temple Beth Shalom in Hudson, Ohio, and lives in Stow, Ohio.
Coaching career
Senderoff served as an assistant coach at Fordham University (1997–99), Yale University (1999–2001), and Towson University (2001–02), and as a graduate assistant at Miami University.
Senderoff had two stints with the Kent State program before moving into the head job. First, he was an assistant to coach Jim Christian from 2002-06. Then, he was hired by former head coach Geno Ford to be his associate head coach.
Senderoff was then hired by Kelvin Sampson to be an assistant for two seasons at Indiana. Sampson and Senderoff resigned in October 2007 in the midst of a recruiting controversy. The NCAA eventually handed Senderoff a 30-month show-cause penalty for his role in the scandal. Unlike the vast majority of coaches given such a penalty, he retained a coaching job during it.
He was hired by Kent State as an assistant coach in April 2008.In September 2010, The Hoop Scoop rated him as the fourth-best Mid-Major assistant basketball coach in the nation.
He was hired as the 24th head coach in the 95-year history of Kent State basketball on April 7, 2011, to replace Geno Ford, under whom Senderoff had served as associate head coach for the previous three seasons. His contract called for three years at $250,000 per year, with built-in bonuses for meeting incentives. In May 2015, Kent State extended his contract by five years, with compensation of an estimated $350,000 per year.
Senderoff led the Golden Flashes to their first MAC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in eight years in 2017, but lost to UCLA in the first round. Following their NCAA Tournament appearance, Kent State would extend Senderoff's contract an additional two years.
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent State (Mid-American Conference) | |||||||||
| 2011–12 | Kent State | 21–12 | 10–6 | 4th | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2012–13 | Kent State | 21–14 | 9–7 | 3rd | CIT Second Round | ||||
| 2013–14 | Kent State | 16–16 | 7–11 | 5th | |||||
| 2014–15 | Kent State | 23–12 | 12–6 | T–1st | CIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| 2015–16 | Kent State | 19–13 | 10–8 | T–3rd | |||||
| 2016–17 | Kent State | 22–14 | 10–8 | 4th | NCAA Round of 64 | ||||
| 2017–18 | Kent State | 17–17 | 9–9 | 2nd | |||||
| 2018–19 | Kent State | 22–11 | 11–7 | 3rd | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2019–20 | Kent State | 20–12 | 9–9 | 4th | |||||
| Kent State: | 181–120 (.601) | 87–71 (.551) | |||||||
| Total: | 181–120 (.601) | ||||||||
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