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Mitch Henderson ’98, behind only Pete Carril and Franklin C. "Cappy" Cappon as the third-winningest coach in program history, completed his 12th year and 11th season as the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green ’40 head coach of Princeton men’s basketball in 2022-23.
Under Henderson's tutelage, 13 Princeton alumni have gone on to professional careers, including Devin Cannady '20 who played eight games for the Orlando Magic in the 2020-21 season, and was the NBA G League Finals MVP with the Lakeland Magic. Tosan Evbuomwan '23 also signed with Detroit Pistons in July 2023.
A two-time NABC District 13 Coach of the Year, (2022, 2017), Henderson led Princeton to the Sweet Sixteen in 2022-23, becoming just the fourth No. 15 seed in history to do so, along with the Ivy Tournament and Ivy Regular Season Championships. With Henderson leading the way, the Tigers defeated a pair of nationally-ranked opponents (No. 8 Arizona & No. 23 Missouri), became the 11th No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 seed after taking down Arizona 58-55 in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64, and earned the largest ever margin of victory for a No. 15 seed thanks to a 78-63 victory over Mizzou in the Round of 32. In addition, Henderson recorded his 200th career victory as a head coach in 2022-23 and became just the eighth men’s basketball head coach to record 100 Ivy League victories. Princeton also set a new program record for most points (2,416), won the London Basketball Classic, ranked fourth in the nation in rebounds per game (28.84), 15th in rebound margin (6.0) and 16th in rebounds per game (39.00).
Henderson guided the Tigers to the outright Ivy League Championship in 2021-22. Along with defeating a pair of power five programs, South Carolina and Oregon State, the Tigers set four team records; most points in a season (2395), most points per game in a season (79.8), most field goals made in a season (910), and most three-point field goals made in a season (327). Additionally, the Tigers ranked fourth in the nation in Effective field goal percentage (56.7%), fifth in three-point field goals per game (10.9), fifth in three-point field goal percentage (38.7%), ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.53), 11th in scoring offense (79.8), and 14th in total three-point field goals made (327).
In 2017, Henderson led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament and a first-round near-upset of 14th-ranked and fifth-seeded Notre Dame, which just five days earlier played in the ACC Tournament final against Duke. The Tigers took the Irish to the final possession before a 60-58 defeat. That followed Princeton winning 19 games in a row, tied for the second-longest streak in program history, including the program's sixth 14-0 season and capturing the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. The 2017 season saw Henderson win Ivy League Coach of the Year honors for the first time in the third year of the award.
Along with being selected as the NABC District 13 Coach of the Year in 2017, he was a finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award.
Henderson has coached 26 All-Ivy League honorees in 11 seasons, including 2013 Ivy League Player of the Year and two-time first-team All-Ivy League honoree Ian Hummer, an AP honorable mention All-America, 2014 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, 2023 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Caden Pierce, 2017 Player of the Year Spencer Weisz, 2021 Ivy League Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan, 2017 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Myles Stephens, and 2018 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Amir Bell. In 2017, Princeton had three first-team All-Ivy League honorees for the first time since 1968 in Weisz, Steven Cook and Stephens.
While maintaining Princeton’s place as an annual contender in the Ivy League, Henderson has challenged the team out-of-conference, playing teams such as against Duke, Syracuse, North Carolina State, Florida State, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Miami, USC, Arizona State, Indiana, South Carolina and Minnesota. In those games and others, Henderson’s teams beat 17th-ranked Arizona State in Tempe, outlasted Florida State in a triple-overtime game in Tallahassee, beat eventual Pac-12 Tournament finalist USC in Los Angeles, defeated in-state rival Rutgers on two out of three opportunities during Henderson's tenure, and took down South Carolina at the Asheville Championship.
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Henderson returned to Princeton as the program’s head coach on April 20, 2011 following 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Northwestern under his former coach at Princeton, Bill Carmody.
As a player at Princeton, Henderson was perhaps most famous for his celebratory leap following the Tigers’ 43-41 upset of UCLA in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament, but that was only one of many moments of success during his collegiate career.
The following season, in 1997, Henderson and the Tigers won 19 games in a row on the way to a 14-0 Ivy League season in the first campaign under Bill Carmody following the retirement of Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Pete Carril. Princeton drew California in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and came up just three points short, something the team wouldn’t do the next year.
In 1998, Princeton was ranked No. 8 in the nation in the AP poll after beginning the season unranked and climbing throughout a 20-game winning streak that culminated in a first-round NCAA Tournament win over UNLV as the East Region’s No. 5 seed. The Tigers were 26-1 in the regular season, with the only loss coming on the road to a No. 2-ranked North Carolina team that went on to the Final Four.
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Henderson earned second-team All-Ivy League honors in 1998 and an All-Ivy honorable mention in 1997. He is ninth in career assists in school history with 304 and ninth in career steals with 142. During his senior season, Henderson was a team co-captain and a co-winner of the B.F. Bunn Trophy, Princeton's most prized annual men's basketball award, sharing both with classmate Steve Goodrich.
In his work with Coaches vs. Cancer, Henderson has traveled to New York and Washington advocating for cancer awareness and research. Within the Princeton community, Henderson gives his time as a fellow at the university's Forbes College, one of six residential colleges on campus. His dedication to community involvement extends to the team, which makes visits to the Princeton YMCA to play basketball with local children.
A 1994 alumnus of Culver Military Academy in Culver, Ind., Henderson was the school's first 12-time letterwinner, competing in football, basketball and baseball. Henderson was drafted by the New York Yankees as an outfielder with the 24th pick of the 29th round, 815th overall, in 1994.
Henderson resides in Princeton with his wife Ashley, sons Theo and Archie and daughter Pippa.
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