19 Facts About Tom Penders

Thomas Vincent Penders was born on May 23,1945 and is an American retired college basketball coach, who last coached from 2004 through 2010 at the University of Houston.

Tom Penders has been the head coach for Tufts, Columbia, Fordham, Rhode Island, Texas, and George Washington.

Tom Penders was appointed to succeed Jack Rohan in a similar capacity at Columbia University on April 18,1974.

Tom Penders led the Lions to back-to-back winning seasons in the final two of his four years there.

On January 26,2013, Tom Penders was inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame.

Tom Penders took over Rhode Island's program on October 4,1986, two weeks before the regular season began.

In 1988, Tom Penders led the Rams to the 1988 NCAA Sweet 16 with wins over Missouri and Syracuse before eventually losing to Duke.

Tom Penders led the Longhorns to three Southwest Conference championships and eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight in 1990, and the Sweet 16 in 1997.

When Tom Penders was hired in 1988, he inherited a team that won 16 games the year before; the Erwin Center averaged 4,028 fans per game.

Tom Penders resigned as head coach following nearly a month of controversy surrounding the Texas program.

Tom Penders announced his resignation after the investigation revealed that his assistant coach, Eddie Oran, admitted to faxing the transcript to the radio station.

Tom Penders' only winning season while directing the Colonials was his first, where he inherited a talented team composed mostly of recruits of former Colonial head coach Mike Jarvis.

Tom Penders said his resignation was because after 30 years of coaching, it was "time for a sabbatical," and said the resignation was not related to the off-the-court issues.

Tom Penders came to Houston after spending three years as an analyst for ESPN and Westwood One Radio.

Tom Penders led Houston to back-to-back wins over nationally ranked teams for the first time since the 1984 NCAA Midwest Regional tournament and their first postseason tournament victory since 1988 in his first two years at the school, in the NIT.

Tom Penders led the Houston Cougars to the Conference USA championship game in 2010 where they defeated UTEP for their first NCAA Tournament berth in 18 years.

Tom Penders decided to resign as coach of Houston on March 22,2010, following a first-round loss to Maryland in the NCAA tournament.

Tom Penders played both baseball and basketball at the University of Connecticut, where he starred as a center fielder for the baseball team and a point guard for the basketball team from 1964 to 1967.

Tom Penders was the 116th overall selection in the eighth round of the 1968 Major League Baseball January Draft by the Cleveland Indians.