Announcement
Head Coach Tommy Penders Jr. was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on December 17, 1973 into a basketball-rich family. His father, formerly one of the premier basketball coaches at the University of Texas, is the former head basketball coach at the University of Houston. In addition, Tommy's grandfather coached teams to four state championships in Connecticut.
Tommy graduated from Austin Westlake High School and attended the University of Texas (1991-1995) where he played basketball and baseball. His degree is in Speech Communication. While at UT Tommy was chosen for the Southwest Conference All-Academic Teams for three years. He was also one of only two players to play on teams to win three Southwest Conference titles in basketball in the school's history. In addition, he has the distinction of being in the top ten in the number of career games played while at Texas (109 games). Many UT fans cannot forget the incredible play Tommy was involved in that ranks in the Top Forty All Time Great Sports plays in UT Sports History*.
Tommy has coached on the D-1 college level as an assistant coach at Rhode Island and George Washington University before deciding his real love is at the high school level. While point guard coach at the college level Tommy coached three All-American point guards as well as Atlantic Ten Conference Player of the Year Cuttino Mobley.
In 2001 the Texas sun shone brightly on Texas schoolboy basketball when Tommy started his career on the high school level. After a two year stint as head coach at Calhoun High School in Port Lavaca Tommy moved to Angleton High School where he quickly distinguished himself as one of the top young coaches in the state. In his second season at 4A Angleton and for the first time in the school’s history, their team not only made it to the regional playoffs, they won the region and went to the state tournament (2006). In 2007 Tommy coached 4A Player of the Year Isaac Reid. It is also noteworthy to mention that in his last three years at Angleton Tommy coached five players who received full basketball scholarships (4 D1).
After five seasons at Angleton where his teams compiled the best two year record in the school’s history, Tommy chose Clear Lake High School as his next challenge when he was selected from a field of over 70 applicants to head Clear Lake's Boys Basketball program.
Tommy has an older sister Wendy and a younger sister Karli. Tommy and his lovely wife Jennifer, also an educator, have a daughter, Mattingly Victoria (age 5 in 2010), and a boy, Jaxon Thomas, born July 7,2009.
Being a third generation basketball coach makes Tommy’s pedigree in basketball read like something written for a screenplay for the next “Hoosiers” type movie but it gets even better. It seems Jennifer has quite a sports “pedigree” of her own. Not only did she go to state in the Texas 300 hurdles three years in high school, she was MVP in volleyball and basketball. Jennifer was an honor graduate in high school and graduated magna cum laude from UT San Antonio. As if that weren’t enough, her mom and four aunts all played on state championship or national championship basketball teams AND, one of her aunts was an All American! For Matty and Jaxon that's what you call "a very significant gene pool"!
The Clear Lake boys basketball community is honored to have a coach of Tommy's caliber endeavor to continue the tradition that has established Clear Lake High School among the elite basketball schools in the state of Texas. With his thorough knowledge of the game, his innate ability to convey his knowledge to his players coupled with his emphasis on communication, and his obvious personal commitment to his players and his team, Coach Tommy Penders will leave an indelible mark on Clear Lake’s basketball legacy that will rival his formidable predecessors.
In 2015 Tommy and his staff took Clear Lake all the way to the 6A state finals where Clear Lake lost by 2 at the buzzer in one of the greatest games in state tournament history. Tommy received the honor of being selected the 2015 Texas State Coach of the Year by the National Federation of High Schools. The tradition continues.
*A fraction of this profile was provided by Coach Penders. Most of it came from research, my recollections, and a very brief communication with family members.
