Lamont Smith to ASU

[sonsforever2008]

Nice pickup for Herb(al Essence) Sendek in Tempe.

Arizona State head men's basketball coach Herb Sendek has announced the hiring of Lamont Smith to the ASU staff, as he replaces 12-year assistant coach Mark Phelps who earned the Drake head coaching position in April. Coach Sendek also has announced that Dedrique Taylor has been promoted to Associate Head Coach and assistant Scott Pera has added the title of recruiting coordinator. Taylor and Pera have been a part of Coach Sendek's staff in each of his first two seasons in Tempe.

Also, technology coordinator Rob Spence will now handle operations, replacing Mike Gibson who went to Drake as an assistant coach.

"We are excited to have Lamont Smith join our staff and at the same time be in position to reconfigure our other staff positions. We most certainly welcome his energy and passion to be a Sun Devil," said Coach Sendek, who led ASU to a 13-win turnaround in his second season, tied for the best mark in the nation. "We once again will have a compatible and determined coaching staff."

Smith was at Santa Clara in 2007-08 as former UCLA assistant coach Kerry Keating's top assistant and helped recruit one of the top classes in the West Coast Conference last summer. Prior to Santa Clara, Smith spent six seasons as an assistant on the staff of Randy Bennett at Saint Mary's College as the Gaels completed one of the nation's best turnarounds in a four-year period. SMC was 2-27 the year before Bennett and Smith arrived, and the Gaels won nine games the first year, 15 the second, 19 in the third and a school record 25 in 2004-05. The 2004-05 team made the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in the history of the program while the 2003-04 team set a school record by scoring 2,377 points. In the first four seasons he was at SMC, the Gaels led the WCC in scoring defense.

With the Gaels, Smith's duties included working with the post players, assisting with the strength and conditioning program, recruiting and scouting.

Smith, a native of The Colony, Texas, returned to the West Coast Conference in 2001 after spending two years as the graduate assistant coach at Saint Louis University. Smith began his coaching career under the tutelage of current Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar at Saint Louis. While at Saint Louis, Smith was an assistant coach on the same staff as Randy Bennett, who brought Smith with him to Saint Mary's when he took the head coaching job there in 2001. Smith's duties with the Billikens included coordinating the team's video editing and film exchange, while assisting with team recruiting, scouting and strength and conditioning programs.