Mitch Henderson turned down the Yankees to make Princeton hoops history | Politi

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mitch Henderson grabbed the receiver of the kitchen phone in his family’s house and was greeted with a thick New York accent. The caller was a baseball scout bearing the kind of news that would normally change the life of a star athlete, and when Henderson heard it, his mind started spinning with the possibilities.

The Yankees had drafted Henderson, a 12-time varsity letter winner at Culver Military Academy in Culiver, Indiana, in the 24th round of 1994 Major League Baseball draft. That was before players who went onto long careers like Dave Roberts, Michael Young and Eric Gagne, and Henderson believed he was good enough to play in the big leagues.

But then that scout heard that Henderson already had committed to play basketball at a New Jersey university with a pretty good reputation, and without hesitation, the same New York accent was delivering some very sound life advice.

“Go to Princeton, kid!” he barked.

And then he hung up the phone.

Henderson laughed as he retold that story on Thursday afternoon. He was walking through a corridor at the KFC Yum! Center, on his way to another round of interviews before Princeton’s latest NCAA Tournament game in this unforgettable March. The 15th-seed Tigers will play favored Creighton on Friday at 9 p.m., and if they win, they will have advanced further than any Ivy League team has in 44 years.

So, yes, this is a sliding-door type question for the team’s head coach: What might have happened had he said yes to the Yankees three decades ago?

“I was dumb enough to want to do it!” he said with a laugh. “But I’m so glad. I walked into Coach Carril’s arms.”

Henderson became a star player for the Princeton team that beat UCLA in the 1996 NCAA Tournament, giving Pete Carril — the program’s curmudgeonly leader — his signature win. And now, 12 years into his own career on the sidelines, Henderson has led the Tigers onto another run that has brought Princeton into a national spotlight.

March Madness victories over Arizona and Missouri have landed Henderson on CNN, Good Morning America and all the national sports talk shows, and while that’s gratifying, it’s not like his place of employment needs the attention. Princeton was going to be juuuuuuuust fine with or without the Tigers unexpected trip to the Sweet 16.

What matters more to Henderson is the reaction from people in the university’s community, like the organic chemistry professor he sees each morning when he’s getting his morning coffee. “MITCH!!” the professor yelled as he pumped his fists over his head, and when the team left campus for Louisville, more than a thousand people gathered to see it off.

“There are stars galore at our university — economics professors, chemistry professors — and it’s fun to see our guys be recognized as celebrities,” Henderson said.

“I feel it deeply. All I ever wanted as a player was to be as good as the guys before me. Now, when you get the job, Coach Carril looms large. I’m really happy we’ve done something — I can feel how happy everyone is. It makes me emotional.”

Princeton is a different place, and few people have embraced its charms and challenges more than Henderson. The people who know him best say this isn’t a performance for the cameras. He loves the university and believes in it, maybe enough so to keep him in New Jersey if/when the bigger programs come calling.

Nothing leads to job offers in college basketball like a timely March victory. Just ask Tobin Anderson, who turned FDU’s upset over Purdue into a new gig at Iona after just 10 months at the Bergen County school.

Princeton has had five head coaches since the legendary Carril stepped down after 29 years in 1996, and the four prior to Henderson — Bill Carmody, John Thompson III, Joe Scott and Sydney Johnson — all made the leap to bigger jobs. None could sustain success at their new gigs, proof that the paychecks are sometimes greener but the grass isn’t.

Henderson certainly is aware of that history. He also knows that Princeton always will give him the resources to compete for an Ivy League title, and that unlike places with the win-now mentality, will not start looking over his shoulder after the rare poor season. That doesn’t mean he plays to top Carril’s three decades, but he’s unlikely to jump for any old gig.

“I mean, this is a wonderful place to be head coach,” Henderson said. “I pinch myself every day (with) the opportunity to be representing Princeton. I always felt like the luckiest guy in the world that I got admitted.”

Lucky to be admitted, and when his phone rang all those years ago, smart enough to turn down a chance to play for the Yankees. Or was it the New York scout who hung up on him? Either way, that set him on the path to Princeton basketball history.

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I was a bird-flipping Little League menace — and it’s time to come clean

The search for Luther Wright, once N.J.’s greatest hoops talent

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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com.

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