"We felt like I needed to get the head coaching experience I needed at Kentucky Christian," he said. "We won a lot of games. I made some relationships that I wouldn't have made otherwise. There are some things that I thought I knew when I went down there to be head coach."
If he didn't know them when he left, it sure looks like he knows those things now. Shouse was named Region Coach of the Year both seasons in Grayson, and his team was an offensive juggernaut, scoring 95 points per game during his stint. He acknowledged, as well, that he is left with a better situation than he had at KCU.
"I walked into Kentucky Christian when I got the job, and there was nobody over 6'4"," he said. "(Next year's Asbury team) is a better team than I inherited when I came to Kentucky Christian."
It will also be a small team. Asbury graduated five post players from last year's team, leaving Shouse with no one who has significant playing time down low. However, he said he will use that to play into his up-tempo style.
"I'm not a guy that can do the five in, five out and give up baskets to get the ball back," he said. "I do like to play defense, but I like to do the up-tempo where you create a lot of possessions, so I started studying the Phoenix Suns' stuff. And it's not just turning everybody loose - it's a 'structured chaos' is what we like to call it."
One of the Suns' rules that Shouse adopted is getting the ball into the front court within three seconds and getting off a good shot within seven seconds of the shot clock. The goal is to create more possessions and more opportunities to score.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out the more possessions you get, the more points you score," he said. "We do a press, and everybody likes to say that you score off of your defense, but we do score off our press. It brings the energy we need."
The style worked at KCU, even though Shouse had fewer contributors to work with.
"The thing at Kentucky Christian, I played that style with seven, eight (players) at the most," he said. "Now I'm looking at, if you look at our roster, when you get past the first two or three players that are the most talented, from like the third through 12th guys, there's really not a lot of difference in their ability, and it doesn't drop. It's the same, and it's solid."
He said being well-conditioned is the key to being successful in his game plan.
"It takes incredible endurance to play that style, so I can sub one in and not lose anything," he said. "I had a meeting with the guys the other night, and I explained a lot of that, and I said it's going to be a direct correlation to how your endurance is to how many minutes you play. The guys in the best shape will play the most."
Shouse's mode of operation when he was at Asbury as an assistant was his emphasis on recruiting.
He was former Head Coach Jim Aller's top recruiter, and he brought in last year's senior class, one of the most talented and successful classes in the school's history. He said that is what he will be putting much of his focus on as coach.
"I just love to do it," he said of recruiting. "I love to make connections with high school coaches, and I guess where I played here, I can't let the program go without players that I think are good."
Shouse learned his recruiting style and strategy while on Aller's bench.
"He would turn me loose and let me get any type of player that I wanted," Shouse said. "Whether it would be a post player or a guard, whoever I liked, I could go after. That set the tone for my recruiting at Kentucky Christian, and that set the tone for the team here to do well."
The junior and senior classes that Shouse inherits at Asbury were largely products of his recruiting, so there is a familiarity between him and his players.
But until practices start this fall, Shouse said he and his family are just happy to be home from their vacation.
"I'd always dreamed about the day I'd find out (about the job)," he said. "I had been telling my wife, I did get the same reaction from her when I told her we were moving to Wilmore as I did when I told her we were moving to Grayson. She cried both times, but for different reasons, so it's exciting for everybody."
