Mitch Henderson
Encyclopedia
Mitchell G. "Mitch" Henderson is an American
college basketball
coach and the incoming head coach
for the Princeton Tigers men's basketball
team. He previously served as an assistant for the Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball
team for eleven seasons under Bill Carmody
. He had been a member of three consecutive Ivy League
champion Princeton teams as a player (two of which went undefeated in conference the first tying the school record with 19 consecutive wins and the second achieving 20). He was a co-captain
of the second of these undefeated league champions along with Steve Goodrich
.
winner at Culver Military Academy in football
, basketball
and baseball
. He had been drafted drafted by the New York Yankees
with the 24th pick of the 29th round, 815th overall in the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft
. In baseball, he was a pitcher
. He was named the 1994 South Bend Tribune
high school Male Athlete of the Year.
As a basketball player, he was a four-year starter at Princeton University
, where he was captain of the undefeated (in conference) Ivy League
champion 1997–98 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team
as well as a member of the 1995–96
and 1996–97
(also undefeated) conference champions. The two undefeated Ivy League seasons were coached by Carmody. The 1995–96 team was memorable for its upset of the 1995–96 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team in the 1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
who were defending national champions
.
The 1996–97 team finished the regular season on a school record 19-game winning streak, and in the 1997 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
, against the fifth-seeded , the team lost 55–52. Henderson, had tied the score at 50 with 1:37 to play. Henderson was a 1997 honorable mention All-Ivy League selection.
The 1997–98 team posted a 27–2 overall record, reached the top 10 in the national polls and achieved a 14–0 conference record. It entered the 1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
on a 19-game winning streak and finished the season ranked eighth in the final USAToday/NABC Coaches Poll. He was a 1998 2nd team All-Ivy League selection. In the 1998 tournament opening game for the fifth-seeded Tigers, he scored 19 points to help them defeat the 69–57, which marked the team's 20th consecutive win—a school record.
He was briefly a member of the Atlanta Hawks
of the National Basketball Association
during the 1998–99 NBA season, but failed to appear in a regular season game. He also played professional basketball in Sligo, Ireland, from August 1998 to January 1999.
that narrowly lost to Kentucky
in its opening game of the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
. The team will return its 2nd leading scorer
and rebounder
, Ian Hummer, who as a sophomore was a 2nd team All-Ivy selection.
Previously, he served as an assistant to his former coach Carmody during Carmody's first eleven season as the coach at Northwestern University
. Northwestern is not known for having the most athletic players in the Big Ten Conference
, causing Carmody to use Henderson, who commonly scrimmaged with the players, as part of a joke for a Sports Illustrated
: "I don't mind that Mitch is cagier and smarter than all those guys on the court. The thing that bothers me is that he's faster than all of them." During Henderson's final three seasons at Northwestern, the team qualified for the National Invitation Tournament
.
from Princeton in 1998 in economics
and worked as a research associate for Lendx Corporation in San Francisco, Calif. before beginning his coaching career. He was senior-year roommates with James Mastaglio, who was a 1998 honorable mention All-Ivy League selection.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
coach and the incoming head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
for the Princeton Tigers men's basketball
Princeton Tigers men's basketball
The Princeton Tigers men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Princeton University. The school competes in the Ivy League in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . The Tigers play home basketball games at the Jadwin Gymnasium in...
team. He previously served as an assistant for the Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball
Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball
The Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team representing Northwestern University in the Big Ten Conference. Men's basketball was first introduced at Northwestern in 1901...
team for eleven seasons under Bill Carmody
Bill Carmody
Bill Carmody is an American men's college basketball coach.Since 2000, he has been the head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.-Early life and education:...
. He had been a member of three consecutive Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
champion Princeton teams as a player (two of which went undefeated in conference the first tying the school record with 19 consecutive wins and the second achieving 20). He was a co-captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
of the second of these undefeated league champions along with Steve Goodrich
Steve Goodrich
Steven Withington Goodrich is a former National Basketball Association player, who played center for the Chicago Bulls and New Jersey Nets in the early 2000s. Although after a remarkable career in college, he was seldom used in the pros...
.
Early life
Henderson was a twelve time varsity letterVarsity letter
A varsity letter is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its winner was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.- Description :...
winner at Culver Military Academy in football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. He had been drafted drafted by the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
with the 24th pick of the 29th round, 815th overall in the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft
1994 Major League Baseball Draft
-First round selections:The following are the first round picks in the 1994 Major League Baseball draft.-Compensation picks:-Other notable players:*A.J. Pierzynski , Minnesota Twins, 3rd round*Bobby Howry , San Francisco Giants, 5th round...
. In baseball, he was a pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
. He was named the 1994 South Bend Tribune
South Bend Tribune
The South Bend Tribune is a newspaper distributed in the Michiana region. There are five editions for distribution in southwestern lower Michigan, Mishawaka , Marshall County, and the South Bend Metro area. The South Bend Tribune has a daily circulation of 70,703 and Sunday circulation of...
high school Male Athlete of the Year.
As a basketball player, he was a four-year starter at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, where he was captain of the undefeated (in conference) Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
champion 1997–98 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team
1997–98 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team
The 1997–98 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1997–98 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Bill Carmody and the team co-captains were Steve Goodrich and Mitch Henderson...
as well as a member of the 1995–96
1995–96 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team
The 1995–96 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Pete Carril and the team captain was Sydney Johnson. The team played its home games in the Jadwin...
and 1996–97
1996–97 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team
The 1996–97 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Bill Carmody and the team captain was Sydney Johnson. The team played its home games in the Jadwin...
(also undefeated) conference champions. The two undefeated Ivy League seasons were coached by Carmody. The 1995–96 team was memorable for its upset of the 1995–96 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team in the 1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1996 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 14, 1996, and ended with the championship game on April 1 at Continental Airlines Arena in...
who were defending national champions
1995 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1995 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 1995, and ended with the championship game on April 3 at the Kingdome in Seattle,...
.
The 1996–97 team finished the regular season on a school record 19-game winning streak, and in the 1997 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1997 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1997 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1997, and ended with the championship game on March 31 in Indianapolis, Indiana...
, against the fifth-seeded , the team lost 55–52. Henderson, had tied the score at 50 with 1:37 to play. Henderson was a 1997 honorable mention All-Ivy League selection.
The 1997–98 team posted a 27–2 overall record, reached the top 10 in the national polls and achieved a 14–0 conference record. It entered the 1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1998, and ended with the championship game on March 30 at the Alamodome in San Antonio,...
on a 19-game winning streak and finished the season ranked eighth in the final USAToday/NABC Coaches Poll. He was a 1998 2nd team All-Ivy League selection. In the 1998 tournament opening game for the fifth-seeded Tigers, he scored 19 points to help them defeat the 69–57, which marked the team's 20th consecutive win—a school record.
He was briefly a member of the Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
during the 1998–99 NBA season, but failed to appear in a regular season game. He also played professional basketball in Sligo, Ireland, from August 1998 to January 1999.
Coaching career
Henderson inherited a 2010–11 team2010–11 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team
The 2010–11 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Sydney Johnson, who was in his fourth season. The team's tri-captains were senior Kareem Maddox,...
that narrowly lost to Kentucky
2010–11 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team
The 2010–11 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Kentucky in the college basketball season of 2010–2011. The team's head coach is John Calipari, who entered his second season after posting a 35–3 record in his inaugural season....
in its opening game of the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2011 tournament:First Four*March 15 and 16**University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OhioSecond and third rounds*March 17 and 19**Verizon Center, Washington, D.C....
. The team will return its 2nd leading scorer
Point (basketball)
Points in basketball are used to keep track of the score in a game. Points can be accumulated by making field goals or free throws ....
and rebounder
Rebound (basketball)
A rebound in basketball is the act of successfully gaining possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made...
, Ian Hummer, who as a sophomore was a 2nd team All-Ivy selection.
Previously, he served as an assistant to his former coach Carmody during Carmody's first eleven season as the coach at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. Northwestern is not known for having the most athletic players in the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
, causing Carmody to use Henderson, who commonly scrimmaged with the players, as part of a joke for a Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
: "I don't mind that Mitch is cagier and smarter than all those guys on the court. The thing that bothers me is that he's faster than all of them." During Henderson's final three seasons at Northwestern, the team qualified for the National Invitation Tournament
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
.
Personal
Henderson earned his A.B.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Princeton in 1998 in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and worked as a research associate for Lendx Corporation in San Francisco, Calif. before beginning his coaching career. He was senior-year roommates with James Mastaglio, who was a 1998 honorable mention All-Ivy League selection.