Eric Henderson era begins at Drake
DES MOINES, IOWA (KELO) — Former SDSU men's basketball coach Eric Henderson was officially introduced as the new head coach at Drake University Monday morning.
'I knew that if I was offered this job, I did have to call my wife first, but I did know that this is the place that I wanted to be,' Henderson said.
Henderson, who spent the last six seasons as head coach of the Jacks, returns to his home state of Iowa and assumes the reigns of one of the top mid-major programs in the country. The Bulldogs have made four NCAA Tournaments in the last five years, but his choice went beyond the hoops history.
'People are the most important thing when I think about decisions,' Henderson said. 'The enthusiasm, the energy that is surrounding Drake basketball and Drake athletics for that matter is incredible, and I wanted to be a part of that.'
During Henderson's tenure leading South Dakota State, the team ranked in the top-10 nationally in both conference win percentage and home-court win percentage. Add on a pair of trips to the Big Dance, and his experience made him the ideal candidate.
'What we needed was to have somebody who had done it before,' Drake Director of Athletics Brian Hardin said. 'Somebody who had called timeouts in an NCAA Tournament game, who has run a program and who knows what it's like to lose kids in the portal, to go out there and rebuild your roster that way, to not do things in theory, but actually have done it in practice. He separated himself from a really qualify group as the best person at the right time to lead our program.'
'Love this opportunity:' Petersen takes over at SDSU
A former high school principal, the 46-year-old emphasized how the role of a coach goes beyond the wins and losses.
'In our program, we're not going to talk a lot about, 'hey, we have to win a championship. We have to do this. We have to do that to be successful,'' Henderson said. 'It's way more important for us to think about what habits are we building on a daily basis.'
SDSU replaced Henderson with assistant coach Bryan Petersen, who was introduced on Friday.
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