THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996              TAG: 9604170547
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: RALEIGH                            LENGTH: Short :   49 lines

N.C. STATE TO NAME SENDEK AS NEW COACH MIAMI OF OHIO COACH HAS TAKEN HIS TEAM TO POSTSEASON PLAY LAST 3 YEARS

Miami of Ohio coach Herb Sendek will take the giant leap into the ACC today when he is named to the head-coaching job at North Carolina State.

A news conference introducing Sendek as the new head coach is scheduled for 11 a.m. today, N.C. State said in a news release Tuesday night.

Sendek flew to Raleigh from Ohio Tuesday to work out details before being announced as the Wolfpack's 17th coach in school history and replacement for Les Robinson, who left the post on March 22 after six seasons.

At 33, Sendek will become the youngest coach in the ACC.

```He's meant so much to our program the last three years,'' Miami of Ohio athletic director Eric Hyman said in a telephone interview from his home in Ohio. ``We're very disappointed to see him go. But he always aspired to have a program such as the caliber of N.C. State.

``It was the opportunity for him to follow his dreams.''

Sendek, who had taken the Redskins to the postseason in each of his three years at the school, was a former assistant to Rick Pitino at Kentucky, turned down the UNLV job last year.

N.C. State athletic director Todd Turner originally had hoped to hire a successor to Robinson by April 13, but the process took longer than expected.

Turner said he had talked with about a dozen high-quality coaches during a 3 1/2-week search.

Miami finished 21-8 in the 1995-96 season and upset Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 1995.

Sendek's teams went to the National Invitational Tournament in the other two years.

Sendek has refused comment to the media throughout the Wolfpack's search process.

Sendek's father said Tuesday night that Sendek had flown to Raleigh to talk about the coaching job, but had not heard anything else from his son. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo

At age 33, Herb Sendek, seen here working the sidelines at Miami of

Ohio, will become the youngest coach in the ACC. He is expected to

be introduced at a news conference today.

by CNB