AAU Basketball Programs Attacked by Former Coach Tom Penders

Former NCAA basketball coach Tom Penders thinks AAU programs are killing the college game, and in a exclusive interview with Bleacher Report he said he knows most other college basketball coaches feel the same way but are afraid to speak up. 

Penders is so strongly against dirty AAU programs that he devoted a entire chapter to the subject in his new book Dead Coach Walking: Tom Penders Surviving and Thriving in College Hoops.

Written with Steve Richardson, the book covers everything from Penders’ coaching career to his strong opinions on NCAA matters such as Academic Progress Rates (APR), the RPI as it pertains to the NCAA tournament and the role of athletic directors.

As for the AAU programs, Penders said most college recruiting today isn’t run through the high schools but instead run through AAUs.

It is the leadership and the tactics of these programs that Penders questions.

Many AAUs have runners and coaches who have close ties to agents. Some AAU coaches have parlayed those ties into NCAA coaching jobs. 

Penders compares dealing with AAU programs to being in the mafia. 

“Coaches don’t need to deal with these AAUs,” Penders said. “How can convicted felons be allowed to run AAU basketball?” 

Penders solution to the epidemic is for background checks on AAU coaches and disallowing college coaches the opportunity to attend AAU sponsored events.  

While the NCAA took steps in 2010 to lessen AAUs influence by eliminating the summer evaluating period, Penders said that step is only the beginning.

Background for Dead Coach Walking

After resigning from the University of Houston in 2010 with 648 college coaching wins, Penders said writing a book was a no-brainer. 

“I always loved to write, and if you looked back at my high school yearbook, I said I wanted to go into journalism,” said Penders.

Penders said in 1996, Richardson—then a reporter with the Dallas Morning News—brought up the idea when he was coaching at Texas. 

While Penders didn’t feel 1996 wasn’t the right time for a book, he said it gave him plenty of time to decide what he wanted to sound off about.

“I wanted to give someone from the outside a view what was going on the inside,” Penders said. 

Dead Coach Walking offers plenty of subjects for every college basketball fan, but the meat and potatoes of the book are Penders’ outspoken views on everything from the NCAA to basketball announcers.

While discussing his book, Penders also sounded off on the following subjects:

On giving media access to his programs. ”It’s so different today dealing with the media because there’s so much. I had good relations (with the media) because I gave total access. I just believed in that, and it gave more writers the opportunity to know about our program.” 

On UConn coach Jim Calhoun’s three-game suspension next year for what the NCAA deemed a lack of promoting NCAA compliance. ”It’s impossible to know what your assistants are doing. He’s not Paul Blart the mall cop; he’s a coach.”

On the NCAA tournament expanding beyond 68 in the coming years. “I like it if they do it slowly and don’t make it so difficult. What (VCU) did was amazing, but even if they were the best team in the field, it’s too much to ask them to play Wednesday evening and then come back and play Friday at noon.”

On ESPN’s influence on the NCAA selection committee. “Everybody is hooked on ESPN, but those guys who work there aren’t perfect and they know it. They are the No. 1 source the committee looks too. What the committee needs is coaches and athletic directors, someone who knows something about basketball.” 

On Butler’s Brad Stevens and VCU’s Shaka Smart staying with their respective schools. “I think they’re being really smart. You don’t just make a move to get more money. When you look at moving on you have to take money out of the equation.”

On assistant coaches who want to move up just to make more money. “I overheard an assistant coach once say he couldn’t wait to get a head coaching job because he didn’t see any money as a assistant. What kind of moronic statement is that? There’s too many young guys that can’t wait to make the great payday, but they have no idea what they’re about to face.”