Kent State men’s basketball assistant coach Rob Senderoff accepted an assistant coach position at Indiana this weekend.

“I think it’s official. In fact, I know it is official,” said Laing Kennedy, Kent State director of athletics.

Senderoff joined the staff, but an official announcement from Indiana is yet to be released.

“I have tremendous respect for Rob (Senderoff),” Kennedy said. “He is an outstanding coach with a bright future. He has done tremendous things with our basketball program.”

Senderoff spent four seasons at Kent State, beginning in the same year as Kent State coach Jim Christian. He had previously coached at Towson as the team’s recruiting coordinator.

Kennedy said he and Christian are already evaluating the program and are in the process of finding a replacement. He added that it didn’t come as a shock to him because of the reputation of Kent State’s successful program.

“We know with the success of our program that our assistant coaches were going to have opportunities,” Kennedy said. “The reputation of our program will bring what I would describe as significant interest. Jim Christian and I are evaluating our current staff and seeing if there are opportunities for there to be changes. So we’re going to take a look at that and we’ll go from there.”

Indiana has recently gone through a number of coaching changes, as former Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson was named head coach for the Hoosiers last month.

Senderoff joins a staff that is used to winning. Sampson and his other assistant coaches, Ray McCallum and Jeff Meyer, have all had experiences with teams that have racked up multiple 20-plus win seasons. Sampson took the job on Indiana’s staff after leading Oklahoma to 10 20-plus win seasons, 11 NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament appearances and three Big 12 Tournament titles.

Sampson has been announcing his staff through the past few weeks, recently adding McCallum and Meyer. McCallum worked under Sampson at Oklahoma and helped coach the Sooners to two of Sampson’s 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. Meyer coached as an assistant at Missouri for two years.

The Hoosiers finished the 2005-2006 season with a 19-12 overall record. Their season ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after a 90-80 loss to Gonzaga.

Kennedy said he hopes Senderoff will continue his success as a coach.

“That’s the nature of the business,” he said. “It’s a tribute to the success of our program that our coaches have these opportunities. It’s a wonderful opportunity for Rob (Senderoff) and his family.”

Contact sports editor Kali Price at [email protected].