Princeton hires Mitch Henderson

Continuing a pattern of hiring one-time players, Princeton hired former Tiger Mitch Henderson as its next head coach of men's basketball today. Henderson is the fourth consecutive coach to have played for Princeton.

Henderson wore the orange and black from 1994-98 (overlapping three years with Sydney Johnson, who just left the head coaching job to take over at Fairfield). While there he played under Bill Carmody, now the head coach at Northwestern. Henderson spent the last 11 years working as an assistant under Carmody. Put plainly, Henderson understands the Princeton way.

"I am pleased to announce that Mitch, one of Princeton's terrific point guards, will succeed his teammate, Sydney Johnson, as the head coach of Princeton basketball," Princeton Director of Athletics Gary Walters said in a statement. "Mitch has developed and polished his craft at Northwestern, a Big Ten university that is similar in philosophy with its commitment to the student-athlete - with emphasis on both sides of that hyphen."

Princeton split the Ivy League title with Harvard this year, winning the Ivy playoff game at the buzzer and earning a berth to the NCAA tournament, where the Tigers put up a valiant effort against Kentucky. Princeton also graduates a stalwart senior class this year.

"I'm so excited about the opportunity to coach here," Henderson said in a statement. He and Sydney Johnson were on the Princeton team that upset UCLA in the 1996 NCAA tournament. "I'm eager to get going with growing on what Sydney has been able to do here the last four years"