HOUSTON—Tom Penders has resigned as coach at Houston, ending a six-year tenure that culminated in the Cougars’ first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1992. The Cougars qualified after winning the Conference USA tournament, but lost to Maryland 89-77 in the first round Friday night. The 64-year-old Penders became just the eighth coach to take four different schools to the NCAA tournament. He had also led George Washington, Rhode Island and Texas there. Penders has won 648 games in his more than 30-year head coaching career. He went 121-77 at Houston. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, sources tell 11 News that the school is expected to buy out the final two years of his contract, worth $250,000. Cougar insiders expected this all along when Rhodes refused to give Penders a vote of confidence after his team qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Former Aggie and Kentucky head coach Billy Gillespie could be the leading candidate for the job. Gillespie coached at UTEP while Mack Rhodes was on staff there.
