New ASU men's basketball coach Herb Sendek appears set to make his mark on the program after naming his staff for the 2006-2007 season and receiving a five-year contract worth $900,000 annually along with several extra incentives.
The Arizona Board of Regents approved the deal last Thursday, which amounts to a 50 percent increase over the contract of former ASU coach Rob Evans, who earned $600,000 a year.
For on-the-court performance, incentives range from a three percent salary increase for making the NCAA Tournament up to a 10 percent increase should the Sun Devils win the National Championship.
Sendek can also earn single season incentives for post-season performance, the largest of which is a 25 percent of salary bonus for winning a national title.
The contract provides for the team's academic performance, with up to a 10 percent increase if the team maintains a 2.8 academic grade point average.
The deal includes additional single season bonuses if Sendek is named Pac-10 Coach of the Year, NABC Regional Coach of the Year or NABC National Coach of the Year.
The former North Carolina State coach announced his new staff earlier this month, which includes two of his assistants from NC State. Deciding to follow Sendek to ASU were Mark Phelps, a 10-year coach at the collegiate level, and former NC State player Archie Miller, who played under Sendek from 1998-2002.
Phelps has spent his entire collegiate coaching career under Sendek, helping NC State to five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances over the last five years.
Rounding out the staff is former Nevada coach Dedrique Taylor and former California Prep coach Scott Pera. Taylor has helped Nevada to two WAC Championships in the last two seasons in which the Wolfpack accumulated 57 wins.
Pera, who will take over as the team's director of operations, coached Artesia High School in Lakewood, Calif. where he went 258-65 and last year won the state title on a 33-1 season.
Sendek, who has a lifetime record of 254-158 in college basketball, is ASU's 13th men's basketball coach.
He hopes to turn around a program that finished a disappointing 11-17 overall last season and just 5-13 in the Pac-10, good for ninth place in the conference. ASU has had a losing record in the Pac-10 for the past three seasons.
Reach the reporter at steven.bohner@asu.edu.
