Russell Edwin Pennell (born November 28, 1960) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach, who was last the head coach for the

University of Central Arkansas The University of Central Arkansas (Central Arkansas or UCA) is a public university in Conway, Arkansas. Founded in 1907 as the Arkansas State Normal School, the university is one of the oldest in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As the state's only n ...

. Pennell was born in

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

and graduated from Pittsburg High School. He played college basketball at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

and at the

, where he was two-year starter at point guard. Pennell later received his bachelor's and master's degrees from

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents. History P ...

Biography

Assistant coach

He has been an assistant coach at Pittsburg State, Oklahoma State,

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

, and Arizona State. Pennell coached at Arizona State from 1998 to 2004. 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 In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability ...

(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. 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 Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

(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 Sean Edward Miller (born November 17, 1968) is an American college basketball coach who currently serves as head coach of the Xavier Musketeers. He previously was in that position from 2004 to 2009, after which he took the head coach position f ...

to a 5-year, $11-million contract, ending Pennell's tenure with the Wildcats. On April 9, 2009, Pennell was hired as head coach of the men's basketball team at Division II

Grand Canyon University Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit Christianity, Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. Based on student enrollment, Grand Canyon University was the lar ...

, a member of the

Pacific West Conference The Pacific West Conference (also known as the PacWest) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in California and Hawaii. T ...

. On March 15, 2013, he resigned, replaced by Dan Majerle. On August 8, 2013, the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season ...

announced the hiring of Pennell as interim head coach following the firing of Corey Gaines. 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. On March 5, 2014, news broke that Pennell was expected to be named the next head coach of men's basketball at

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state o ...

. On January 7, 2020 it was announced that Pennell would step down from his position. This move followed a leave of absence for personal reasons he took in December 2019.

Personal life

Pennell is married and has two children.

Head coaching record

College

WNBA

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References

External links

Grand Canyon bioArizona State bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennell, Russ 1960 births Living people American men's basketball players American women's basketball coaches Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball coaches Arizona Wildcats men's basketball coaches Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Kansas Basketball players from Kansas Central Arkansas Bears basketball coaches Central Arkansas Bears basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball coaches People from Pittsburg, Kansas Phoenix Mercury coaches Pittsburg State Gorillas men's basketball coaches Point guards