I saw Tom Penders pimping on Twitter his new book "Dead Coach Walking."  Anyone read it? If so, does he talk much about his time at GW and is it worth reading?

The blurb on Amazon talks about how "Turnaround Tom" lifted ALL of these programs from the dead.  He sure was Turnaround Tom for GW.  Took a program that had 8 straight winning seasons (and a ninth attributable to players that Jarvis left him) and drove it straight to Hell in record time.  That's what I call a turnaround!

You can't even summon up a sarcastic reply. Title says it all.

Hey hey hey, Before Penders, scholarship athletes at GW did not sexually assault hookers in their dorm rooms and go on national television to denouce having to study.

Yep, I will use my name from here on in for all posts.

He was the best bench coach for GW that I have seen in the 33 years I have been coming to the games.

Yep, I will use my name from here on in for all posts.

He was the best bench coach for GW that I have seen in the 33 years I have been coming to the games.

I'd have gone with 'Take The Money And Run".  A bit more appropriate.

Keith, I've been following GW for just about exactly the same period of time, and I don't remember any coaching by Penders beyond trying to replicate Loyola Marymount's style without the personnel, and oh yeah, turning the ball over to Shawnta so we could win 20 games one season.  Jarvis wasn't the greatest Xs and Os guy but he adapted his style for different teams.  I don't think Bob Tallent was a bad bench coach either.  In the time I watched his teams, he didn't have the horses besides Mike Zagardo.  

Besides, whatever you think about Penders' bench coaching abilities, the thesis of his book is that he turned around all of those programs.  Arguably Jarvis was running out of steam and we might've been headed for a few seasons without an NCAA appearance when Shawnta left, but the fact is that we were in the NCAA or NIT 7 years out of 8 before Penders got here, and the program was wrecked when he left.    Even if Penders could somehow argue that someone else caused the damage, the facts don't conveniently line up with the thesis of his book.   

I'm fairly certain the only play I saw Penders run on offense consisted of him putting two fingers in the air and twirling them in a circle.  Oh, and then watching Val force a shot.

A guy doesn't win 648 games at the collegiate level by holding up two fingers and twirling them.  I distinctly remember him outcoaching Gary Williams at the then-MCI Center during the BB&T.

I'm not making any comments on his ethics, how he left the GW program or any other program, but he could coach.

Just one person's opinion.  I see I'm not having any success getting people to post with their real names.

What I remember about Penders was his getting tossed out of a game by a referee everybody called the Fat Ref.  As he left the gym, Penders broadly pantomimed the refs fatness by using his hands to mimic a fat stomach.

that would be the Siena 9-point play game where TP also tossed his coat to mid-court prior to being ejected. 

I'm with Keith on this one in that I believe Penders was a much better bench coach than most here give him credit.  His style of play was loose and fast but that was by design not apathy or stupidity.  He wanted to constantly push the pace of the game.  Shawnta, Sir Val, Mike King, Monroe, Barrows were guys that fit in well with that style but Penders didn't have enough of those types to have real success after the 1st season.  If he could have kept a lid on the off-the-court crap that went on under his reign I think he could have turned it around.  Hypothetically speaking if everyone stayed and didn't committ crimes the lineup the year he left would have been the following: Attilla, J Smith, Monroe, Sir Val and TJ with Forcion, Miller, Collucci and Chandler (who turned out to be a 19pts/8rb guy at SJSU) off the bench.  That would have been one of the fastest and offensively balanced teams in the league and would have won a ton of games.   But, saying that, off the court stuff certainly does matter and I was glad when he left.

Head coaching record

Herve, it was a 10 point play in the first half.  (and the ejection was after an 8 point play in the 2nd half).

I don't know if he was the best bench coach, but I know where Keith and Bobo are coming from.  He did have a system that kind of worked, whcih was basically gamble for steals, force the pace, let the guards handle the ball and shoot and use the big men to set screeens and rebound.  He was left with not much after Shawnta and Yegor graduated, but he recruited Monroe and Val (and people forget how well and how disciplined Val played at the end of his sophmore year when Barrow went down and Val switched to the point -- we were a Larry Lembo call away from maybe a tourney berth that year).   People also forget that despite the losing record, even the team that relied largely on two freshman and a juco rookie (Barrow)  was better than a lot of the product we've seen lately, including this year's teaam.  The A-10 was much tougher so the record didn't show it, but I suspect the RPI was better and if Pomeroy had his system that far back, you'd probably see it better.

Even in Penders worst year at GW (00-01) GW went 6-10 in A10 with a win over #19 ranked St Johns and 2 wins in the A10 Tourney.  The previous year GW went 9-7 in A10, beat Clemson and won the BB&Tover SHU and MD. 

Stat sheet has GW's RPI as 118 and 124 in Penders last two years at GW. Obviously the 1st year was much higher as they were an at-large NCAA selection.  Hobbs RPI in the last 4 years is 185, 204, 148, 145 (this season).

And to think he might still be here if his son could have controlled access to a telephone card!

Penders is like any president of the US - he is great  when he is winning and has a system to "crack the code".  When he is  losing he is the worst coach in the history of the US and his system is the reason.  Talk about ego - who other than his players would buy his book?