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We hope you are ready for a season unlike any other: testing, distancing, and bubbles, oh my! Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, or whether anything actually will happen…but in the meantime we will try to restore some order with season previews featuring the best players/coaches/administrators in the country. We continue our coverage with Northern Kentucky coach Darrin Horn. He made the Sweet 16 as a player, made the Final 4 as an assistant coach, and won the Horizon League tourney last March. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Horn about winning 23 games during his 1st year in Highland Heights and his expectations for this year.
In February of 1993 as a player at Western Kentucky you made a game-winning 3-PT shot in a win over Louisville in Freedom Hall: did you think the shot was going in, and where does that rank among the highlights of your career? The shot felt great when I let it go. That was such a big win for our program because it was against Louisville: I think they were top-10 in the country at the time. It really gave us the confidence to be able to make the Sweet 16 run so I would definitely say it was one of the highlights of my career.
The following month you made the Sweet 16 before a 3-PT OT loss to Florida State: how close did you come to pulling off the upset and having a chance to face Kentucky in the Final 4? I really believe (even almost 30 years later) that if Mark Bell/Darnell Mee had not fouled out that we would have won that game against FSU. Unfortunately, we were down our two best players in overtime against a far superior team talent-wise (Charlie Ward/Bobby Sura/Doug Edwards): those guys were loaded. I probably believe it even more today because as a coach I know the impact that just one or two players can have on a game.
You made the 2003 Final 4 as an assistant to Tom Crean at Marquette: could you tell at the time that Dwyane Wade was going to become a superstar? At some point I think we all knew that Dwyane was going to be a long time pro and a really good one. Did any of us say out loud that he would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, perennial All-Star, and in the discussion for the best to ever play his position? No…and I think anyone who tells you they did is not being truthful. That said, am I surprised? Not really, because he was a special talent who had tremendous character and really bought into the work ethic and commitment it takes to be great and win big. I am so happy for all that he has accomplished because I know where he came from and what he overcame. He is truly a shining example of what is good about our game.
In the 2008 NCAA tourney as head coach at your alma mater Ty Rogers made a 26-foot buzzer-beater over 3 defenders to clinch a 2-PT OT win over Drake (www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwOzyE_S5AY): how did you draw up the play, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? The play was actually designed for Courtney Lee, but Tyrone Brazelton did not get the angle to flip the ball to Courtney so he hit Ty Rogers trailing behind (a la the Villanova 2016 NCAA championship buzzer-beater, just from a different angle: www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7FFJUz0tdo). What is great is that Ty told Tyrone before he inbounded it that if he got in trouble he would be trailing just in case Tyrone needed him. So many people have spoken about “The Shot” but just as impressive to me was the pass that Tyrone made. It took tremendous awareness/confidence to make that play in that moment. The locker room was both jubilant and emotional at the same time. It was a group of seniors who had been through so much together: they were our first full recruiting class. We all felt in some way that anything short of a win in the NCAA tournament would have left our time together lacking so to say it was fulfilling/satisfying would be an understatement.
The following month you were hired as coach at South Carolina: what is the biggest difference between coaching in a big-time conference vs. coaching in a lesser-known conference? The biggest difference in the league levels is that if you have a good team in a lower league there are a handful of nights (especially at home) when you can maybe not play your best or see your best player have an off-night but you can still win. That is much harder to do at a higher level. There is a deeper level of talent on each roster and pretty much every team has one guy who can beat you if you do not do a good job of defending him.
Last year you were hired as head coach at Northern Kentucky and won 23 games in your very 1st season: how were you able to come in and be so successful right from the start? I think that the biggest key to our success last year was that our players allowed us to coach them. So often when a new coach takes over a winning program there is resistance to doing things differently but our guys did not do that. I hope that some of that is because we made it clear as a staff that we had great respect for what they had already accomplished. We were not looking to reinvent the wheel but just build on what they had already done and continue to make them better and grow our program. They bought into that and let us coach them.
In the 2020 Horizon tourney title game you had a 9-PT win over Illinois-Chicago, then a couple of days later you learned that the NCAA tourney was canceled due to the coronavirus: what was your reaction when you 1st heard the news, and do you think that it was the right decision? That was a huge blow: there were a lot of down faces when we gave them the news. I felt so bad for our seniors who I knew would not get another chance to play in an NCAA Tournament. I think what added to it was that this group had been to the NCAA tourney twice before. According to them this time was different because there was a confidence that they were not just happy to be there but going in with the mindset of winning.
You graduated your top-2 scorers in Dantez Walton/Tyler Sharpe: how will you try to replace all of that offense/leadership? From a leadership standpoint, I think that Trevon Faulkner will blossom into an outstanding leader. He has great energy/confidence and brings it to his teammates every day. Our other returners (Bryson Langdon/Adrian Nelson/Paul Djoko) have also shown a great willingness to take on that role and help set the tone for what our expectations are in our program. Offensively, I think that we are going to have to do it more by committee. I think we are actually deeper this year from an offensive talent standpoint, but we lost three guys who could basically take over a game and carry you to a win on any given night. In addition, they were veterans who knew what it took to win so there will be a big learning curve for sure for our new guys.
Robert Morris is joined the conference last summer: what is it like to have another defending conference champ in the league? I love the addition of Robert Morris because it strengthens our league and expands our footprint. They have already shown that they can win a league title and are committed to having a winning program so I think that is a positive.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? Our goals are always to be playing our best basketball in March and competing for a championship. We are not changing our expectations just because we lost so much talent and are so young. Is that realistic? Maybe not, but we are going to work like it every day to give us a chance to do it.