Bob Bender

{{short description|American professional basketball coach|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Bob Bender

| image =

| caption =

| league = NBA

| team =

| position = Assistant coach

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|04|28}}

| birth_place = Quantico, Virginia, U.S.

| high_school = Bloomington (Bloomington, Illinois)

| college =

Indiana (1975–1976)
Duke (1977–1980)

| career_position = Point guard

| coach_start = 1983

| coach_end = 2018

| cyears1 = 1983–1989

| cteam1 = Duke (assistant)

| cyears2 = 1989–1993

| cteam2 = Illinois State

| cyears3 = 1993–2002

| cteam3 = Washington

| cyears4 = 2002–2004

| cteam4 = Philadelphia 76ers (assistant)

| cyears5 = {{nbay|2004|start}}–{{nbay|2012|end}}

| cteam5 = Atlanta Hawks (assistant)

| cyears6 = {{nbay|2013|start}}–{{nbay|2013|end}}

| cteam6 = Milwaukee Bucks (assistant)

| cyears7 = {{nbay|2015|full=y}}

| cteam7 = Brooklyn Nets (scout)

| cyears8 = {{nbay|2016|start}}–{{nbay|2017|end}}

| cteam8 = Memphis Grizzlies (assistant)

| highlights =

As player:

NCAA champion (1976)
Second-team Parade All-American (1975)

As coach:

2x MVC regular season champion (1992, 1993)
MVC Coach of the Year (1992)
Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1996)
MVC tournament champion (1990)

}}

File:Mike Gminski and Bob Bender, Duke Chronicle 1979-02-26.jpg

Robert Michael Bender (born April 28, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach, who last served an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association.{{cite web|url=http://www.nba.com/nets/brooklyn-nets-add-ayers-and-bender-scouting-staff/|title=Brooklyn Nets Add Ayers and Bender to Scouting Staff - Brooklyn Nets|website=nba.com}} Born in Quantico, Virginia, He attended Bloomington High School in Bloomington, Illinois, where he was an All-American in basketball. Bender has the distinction of being the first (and until 2025 only){{efn|LJ Cryer briefly played in Baylor's win in the 2021 championship game as a freshman,{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401310865 |title=Box Score: 2021 Men's National Championship, National Championship Game |website=ESPN.com |date=April 5, 2021 |access-date=April 20, 2025}} and started for Houston in its loss to Florida as a fifth-year senior in 2025.{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401746082 |title=Box Score: 2025 Men's National Championship, National Championship Game |website=ESPN.com |date=April 7, 2025 |access-date=April 20, 2025}}}} individual to play for different programs in two NCAA Championship games. He was a freshman on Bob Knight's undefeated 1976 Indiana team and played point guard at Duke from 1977 to 1980, including an appearance in the title game against Kentucky. Bender was drafted by the San Diego Clippers in the sixth round before his senior year, but did not play.{{cite web|url=http://www.nba.com/coachfile/bob_bender/|title=NBA.com Bob Bender|website=www.nba.com}}

He began his coaching career as an assistant at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski. He later served as head coach at Illinois State University and the University of Washington, and was an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Bender is married to his wife, Alice, with whom he has two children: Mary Elizabeth and Robert Michael Bender III.

On June 17, 2013, Bender was hired as an assistant coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, under Larry Drew, of whom he was an assistant to at the Atlanta Hawks.{{cite web|url=http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=13510|title=Milwaukee Bucks hire Nick Van Exel and Bob Bender as assistant coaches :InsideHoops|website=www.insidehoops.com|access-date=June 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102041505/http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=13510|archive-date=November 2, 2013|url-status=dead}}

Head coaching record

{{CBB Yearly Record Start

|type=coach

|conference=

|postseason=

|poll=no

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead

|name=Illinois State Redbirds

|startyear=1989

|conference=Missouri Valley Conference

|endyear=1993

|}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference tournament

| season = 1989–90

| name = Illinois State

| overall = 18–13

| conference = 9–5

| confstanding = T–2nd

| postseason = NCAA Division I First Round

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| season = 1990–91

| name = Illinois State

| overall = 5–23

| conference = 4–12

| confstanding = T–8th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| season = 1991–92

| name = Illinois State

| overall = 18–11

| conference = 14–4

| confstanding = T–1st

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| season = 1992–93

| name = Illinois State

| overall = 19–10

| conference = 13–5

| confstanding = 1st

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Illinois State

| overall = 60–57 ({{Winning percentage|60|57}})

| confrecord = 40–26 ({{Winning percentage|40|26}})

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead

|name=Washington Huskies

|startyear=1993

|conference=Pacific-10 Conference

|endyear= 2002

|}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| season = 1993–94

| name = Washington

| overall = 5–22

| conference = 3–15

| confstanding = 9th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| season = 1994–95

| name = Washington

| overall = 10–17{{efn|At the end of the 1994–95 season, Washington had originally finished 9–18 overall and 5–13 in conference. However, the Huskies' record was adjusted after all of California's wins were vacated.|name=2007season}}

| conference = 6–12

| confstanding = T–7th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| season = 1995–96

| name = Washington

| overall = 16–12

| conference = 9–9

| confstanding = T–5th

| postseason = NIT First Round