Coach of Kentucky’s first March Madness foe cherishes ‘special memories’ from UK
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sendek reflects on Kentucky ties as Santa Clara readies for March game
- Sendek progressed from UK assistant to head coach at multiple NCAA teams
- Roster, culture and an NBA prospect boost Santa Clara’s expectations
Next month will mark 33 years since Herb Sendek left Kentucky basketball for his first head coaching position at Miami (Ohio).
But the NCAA Tournament first-round matchup between Kentucky and Santa Clara on Friday will mark the first time Sendek has squared off against the program that helped launch his career.
“Most importantly, I was really excited to see our team in the bracket,” Sendek said in a phone interview with the Herald-Leader on Tuesday. “And then, as destiny would have it, obviously we were matched up against Kentucky. The last few days certainly have been a great opportunity to reconnect with some great friends in Lexington who have reached out, and just in maybe some private moments recall special memories of our time together.”
Sendek coached under Pitino at Providence and joined him at Kentucky in 1989, when Pitino left the NBA’s New York Knicks for Lexington. Sendek spent four seasons at UK, helping Pitino build the nucleus of the roster that would return the Cats from the despair of probation to the 1993 Final Four.
Miami (Ohio) hired Sendek as its head coach in 1993. In his second year on the job, he led No. 12 seed Miami to an NCAA Tournament upset of Arizona. He moved to NC State in 1996. After a run of five straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2002 to 2006, he was hired by Arizona State.
Sendek reached the NCAA Tournament twice in nine seasons at Arizona State before being fired in 2015. After a year away from coaching, he was hired by Santa Clara in 2016.
“He’s had an incredible career,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said of Sendek on his radio show Monday. “He’s one of the best people you’ll ever meet in your life, and the BBN knows that because he was with Coach P at Providence and here. … Was such a major piece in Coach restoring Kentucky basketball to what it was supposed to be.”
Sendek and Pope briefly crossed paths while Sendek coached at Kentucky.
While Pope recalled Sendek being the first UK assistant coach to reach out when he decided to transfer from Washington in 1993, Sendek said he actually recruited Pope for Pitino and Kentucky out of high school. Sendek was hired as Miami’s coach in April 1993, several weeks before Pope announced his transfer decision.
“Went up to Washington to visit him, and was at several of his summer games (in high school),” Sendek said. “...I wasn’t part of the success in bringing him to Kentucky, but I maybe helped set the thing in motion when he was in high school.”
In Sendek’s story, Pope is certainly not the most important recruit Pitino landed during their time at Kentucky.
That distinction goes to Sendek’s wife, Melanie Scheuer.
During renovations to Memorial Coliseum, Pitino began working out at the Lexington Sports Club downtown. There, he met Melanie, who worked at the club, and solicited her phone number on behalf of Sendek.
““He was worried about me,” Sendek said. “I wasn’t getting out of the office too much.”
Even after Pitino gave Sendek Scheuer’s number, Sendek neglected to call her. Eventually, Pitino brought the entire basketball team to the club for an aerobics class.
Sendek had no choice but to accompany him. There, he finally met his future wife.
“Among all of his other talents, he’s Cupid,” Sendek said of Pitino with a laugh.
The couple married in May 1992. They later had three children.
When Kentucky and Santa Clara meet in Saint Louis Friday, Sendek expects his wife and two brothers-in-law still living in the area — one in Louisville and the other in Southern Indiana — to root for his team. But other friends from their time in Kentucky?
“I don’t know,” he said. “You know the passion that exists for the Wildcats. That may be a hard one for people.”
Santa Clara is playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996, but Sendek’s team is no pushover.
CBS analyst Clark Kellogg called the No. 10 seed Broncos the best “toughest double-digit seed” in the tournament. Sendek’s roster includes at least one legitimate NBA draft prospect.
“Coach has definitely been a big part of my journey in particular, but this whole team’s journey,” Santa Clara redshirt freshman forward Allen Graves told reporters in California after Sunday’s bracket reveal. “He continues to support us each and every day, whether that’s on the court or off the court. We know that we can go to him with whatever. We know we can talk to him about basketball and just life in general.
“I know that personal relationship aspect of it is the biggest part of why we are who we are and the culture we have. He’s done a great job of instilling that culture from the beginning. … We all have bought into it this year, and I feel like that has been a key to our success.”
When Pitino left Kentucky in 1997 for the Boston Celtics, Sendek was among the coaches mentioned by the Herald-Leader as candidates to replace to him. The job eventually went to Tubby Smith, who had worked alongside Sendek on Pitino’s early UK staff.
From there, Sendek’s career moved away from Kentucky. It finally comes full circle Friday.
“It just was kind of like a flashback, just like a quick movie reel,” he said of his reflections this week. “Thinking about different experiences, but more than that, just the relationships and the great feeling it was to be a part of that historic program. I also just loved living in Lexington.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 6:00 AM.