Russ Pennell

Russ Pennell
Sport(s) Basketball
Current position
Title Head coach
Team Central Arkansas
Conference Southland
Record 9–48 (.059)
Biographical details
Born (1960-11-28) November 28, 1960
Pittsburg, Kansas
Playing career
1979–1980 Arkansas
1981–1984 Central Arkansas
1984–1988 Spirit Express
Position(s) Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1989–1990 Pittsburg State (volunteer asst.)
1990–1992 Oklahoma State (asst.)
1992–1998 Ole Miss (asst.)
1998–2004 Arizona State (asst.)
2008–2009 Arizona (Interim HC)
2009–2013 Grand Canyon
2013 Phoenix Mercury (Interim HC)
2014–present Central Arkansas
Head coaching record
Overall 102–106 (college)
9–4 (WNBA)

Russell Edwin "Russ" Pennell (born November 28, 1960) is an American basketball coach, who is currently the head coach of the University of Central Arkansas's men's basketball team.

Pennell was born in Pittsburg, Kansas and graduated from Pittsburg High School. He played college basketball at the University of Arkansas and at Central Arkansas, where he was two-year starter at point guard. Pennell later received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Pittsburg State University.[1]

Biography

Assistant coach

He has been an assistant coach at Pittsburg State, Oklahoma State, University of Mississippi, and Arizona State. Pennell coached at Arizona State from 1998 to 2004.[2] He then ran the Arizona Premier AAU summer league program for two seasons. During the 2007–08 season, he was a color analyst for men's basketball on the Arizona State radio network.

Head coach

On May 5, 2008, Arizona head coach Lute Olson announced the hiring of Pennell as an assistant coach. Pennell became the interim head coach on October 24, when Olson announced his surprise retirement for medical reasons. As interim coach, Pennell has coached the Wildcats to a 19–13 record in the regular season (9–9 conference). Because of Arizona's mid-season success, Pennell had been rumored as a contender for the Pac-10's Coach of the Year.[3] Ultimately, Pennell did not win the award as Arizona slumped at the end of the regular season, but his work as Arizona's coach was enough to get Arizona into the NCAA tournament for the 25th consecutive year. Arizona advanced past the first round, where, as a 12th seed, they upset 5th seed Utah (Arizona's first first round win since 2006) and defeated 13th seed Cleveland State to move on to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005. However, Arizona suffered a crushing defeat against overall #1 seed Louisville, losing 103–64. On April 7, Arizona signed Xavier men's basketball coach Sean Miller to a 5-year, $11-million contract, ending Pennell's tenure with the Wildcats.[4]

On April 9, 2009, Pennell was hired as head coach of the men's basketball team at Division II Grand Canyon University, a member of the Pacific West Conference.[5] On March 15, 2013, he resigned, replaced by Dan Majerle.[6]

On August 8, 2013, the Phoenix Mercury announced the hiring of Pennell as interim head coach following the firing of Corey Gaines.[7] Pennell guided the team to the Western Conference finals. He announced after the season that he would not return as coach in 2014, and that he hoped to return to coaching in the college ranks.[8]

On March 5, 2014, news broke that Pennell was expected to be named the next head coach of men's basketball at Central Arkansas.

Personal life

Pennell is married and has two children.

Head coaching record

College

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Arizona Wildcats (Pac-10 Conference) (2008–2009)
2008–09 Arizona 21–14 9–9 T–5th NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Arizona: 21–14 (.600) 9–9 (.500)
Grand Canyon Antelopes (PacWest Conference) (2009–2013)
2009–10 Grand Canyon 16–16 10–6 4th
2010–11 Grand Canyon 14–12 9–7 4th
2011–12 Grand Canyon 19–8 13–5 3rd NCAA Division II First Round
2012–13 Grand Canyon 23–8 14–4 T–2nd NCAA Division II First Round
Grand Canyon: 72–44 (.621) 46–22 (.676)
Central Arkansas Bears (Southland Conference) (2014–present)
2014–15 Central Arkansas 2–27 2–16 13th
2015–16 Central Arkansas 7–21 6–12 T–9th
2016–17 Central Arkansas 0–0 0–0
Central Arkansas: 9–48 (.059) 8–28 (.222)
Total: 102–106 (.490)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

WNBA

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win-loss %
Post season PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win-loss %
Team Year G W L WL% Finish PG PW PL PWL% Result
Phoenix 2013 1394.692 3rd in Western 523.400Lost Conference Semifinals
Career 1394.692 523.400

References

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