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Asbury names Shouse men's hoops coach

June 18, 2008|Tyler Young

Asbury announced Tuesday that Kentucky Christian University head man Will Shouse will be its new men's basketball coach.

Shouse, a former assistant under departed head coach Jim Aller, is coming out of two seasons at KCU where he was named NCCAA Mid-East Region Coach of the Year both years and was a finalist for national Coach of the Year in 2007. His teams placed third in the NCCAA Division II national semifinals both years.

Right now, his KCU team is ranked second in the nation in NCCAA Division II. He runs a high-powered offense - KCU led the nation in scoring both years Shouse was there. It was his first head coaching job.

A 2002 Asbury graduate, Shouse also played at Asbury under the man he is going to replace. He is a member of the 1,000-point club and broke the school record for 3-pointers made in his career. His history with the program made him attractive to Asbury Athletics Director Gary Kempf.

"He was definitely one of the guys I was interested," Kempf said. "I have known Will since I got here; I know what kind of man he is, what kind of leader he is, what kind of believer he is, and I knew his strong loyalty to Asbury."

Shouse has a significant job to do, as he was not left with much from last year's team. Asbury graduated seven seniors, including five of the top six scorers. The upcoming freshman and sophomore classes are lacking in size, which is the area the team needs most after nearly its entire frontcourt graduated.

Shouse, however, was one of Aller's top recruiters when he was on the bench, and if the job he did at KCU is any indication, he has a chance to be successful at Asbury as well.

The team has established itself as a perennial conference contender but has never been able to get over the hump and win the conference tournament to get to the NAIA National Tournament. But Shouse is familiar with the team, particularly the older players.

"There is no doubt that he recruited the (current Asbury) junior and senior class," Kempf said. "I think he always wanted to coach here some day. It was important for him to get the head coaching experience (at KCU)."

Kempf said that he interviewed another candidate and did phone interviews with two more before deciding on Shouse.

Shouse has spoken with the returning players, and he will be on campus next week to work with women's coach Bart Flener at Flener's summer basketball camp.

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