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Entering his seventh season at Santa Clara University in2013-14, Dustin Kerns helped the Broncos post 24+ victories for thesecond time in three years in 2012-13. Collecting a 26-12record, the Broncos won the College Basketball Invitationalpost-season tournament after winning the CollegeInsider.comTournament in 2011. The Broncos final RPI was No. 68 andrecord-wise, they claimed the biggest turnaround in Division Ibasketball this year. The 26 wins were just one shy of theschool record set by the 1968-69 team who collected 27 wins.
Santa Clara won 26 games in 2012-13 after winning 21 regularseason games for the first time in almost 20 years on the Missioncampus. Kerns has been essential to the Broncos run, helpingcoach two first-team All-WCC members in 2013 in Marc Trasolini andKevin Foster, the second-all-time leading scorer in West CoastConference history. In addition to their success on thecourt, all five seniors are on tap to graduate in June as well.
All told the Broncos combined to break 22 school and WCC recordsin 2012-13. Foster broke the all-time WCC record for threesmade, finishing tied for fourth in Division I history with 431. In addition to winning the CBI and finishing fourth in theWCC, the Broncos broke eight individual career records and fiveindividual season records. As a team the Broncos broke eightseason records as well. They also led the West CoastConference in two team categories and two individual categoriesoverall and two team categories and three individual categories inleague games.
Kerns also helped lead the Broncos to one of their mostsuccessful seasons in 2010-11, finishing the season with 24victories -- third most in school history -- and winning theCollegeInsider.com Post-Season Tournament Championship. Foster was named to the All-WCC First Team and an NABCAll-District honoree; Evan Roquemore was named to the FreshmanAll-WCC Team and Troy Payne was named the WCC Defensive Player ofthe Year.
In 2011, the Broncos also set eight team records, sevenindividual season records, two individual career records and fourfreshman individual records in 2010-11. Foster, who averageda WCC-leading 20.2 ppg in 2010-11, was named by CollegeInsider.comto the Mid-Major All-America Team and the WCC’s Most ValuablePlayer. His 140 three’s were No. 1 nationally and No. 9all-time in the NCAA. Both Foster and Trasolini scored their1000th point during the year. All four seniors– Ben Dowdell, Troy Payne, Nate Mensah and Michael Santos– will graduate in June 2011.
Prior to becoming an assistant coach on Coach Keating's staffKerns served as Director of Basketball Operations at Santa Clarafor one season. Kerns joined the Broncos in 2007 from WoffordCollege, where he spent three seasons as an assistant coach.
"He has done a phenomenal job in building relationships on theWest coast and has continued his relationships back east and in themid-west to help us solidify our recruiting, said Santa Clara headcoach Kerry Keating. His attention to detail and diligence inthe daily effort to improve are exactly what we strive for in ourprogram. On top of many things, Dustin spends agreat deal of time developing our players on and off thecourt."
During his tenure at Wofford, Kerns helped the Terriers set aschool record for single season wins, en route to the school's bestoverall record at the Division I level at that time. In addition,Wofford posted wins at Auburn and Cincinnati in those threeseasons. Tyler Berg and Shane Nichols were both All-SouthernConference selections at Wofford with Junior Salters being named tothe all-conference freshman team in 2006-07. His responsibilitiesincluded on-floor coaching, recruiting, scouting, team travel, campdirector and working with the perimeter players. The 2005 and2006 recruiting classes went on to win back to back SouthernConference Championships including Southern Conference Player ofthe Year Noah Dahlman. Those recruiting classes includedNoah Dahlman who became Wofford's All-time leading scorer andAll Southern Conference Players Junior Salters and Tim Johnson.
Prior to joining Mike Young's staff at Wofford, Kerns spent aseason as a graduate assistant under then-head coach Buzz Petersonat Tennessee. The Vols earned a berth in the NIT that season. Kernswas camp and coaching clinic director during his time in Knoxville,while assisting with team scouting, compliance and academics. Hereceived a Masters of Science from Tennessee in 2004.
Kerns' first job in college basketball was at Tennessee Tech, ashe spent the 2002-03 season as the program's Director of BasketballOperations. He assisted head coach Mike Sutton with all aspects ofthe program, including opponent scouting, on-campus recruiting,scheduling, film exchange and team academics. The team won 20 gamesthat season and reached the Ohio Valley Championship game.
Kerns is a 2002 graduate of Clemson University, where he earneda degree in secondary education. As an undergraduate, he worked asan student assistant for Tigers men's basketball team underthen-head coach Larry Shyatt, helping organize summer camps, whilealso assisting with the scout films.
Kerns was hired to coach at the prestigious Michael JordanFlight School three summers in a row during2001-2003.
A Kingsport, Tennessee native, the 33-year-old Kerns played atDobyns-Bennett High School, which ranks first in the nation in alltime wins at the prep level.
Kerns is married to the former Brittany Wright and they welcomedtheir first child, Emory Sulianne, on October 19, 2011.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT COACH KERNS
“Dustin Kerns is one of my all-time favorite assistants in10 years as a head coach. We played in two NCAA tournamentsover the past three seasons and Dustin Kerns was the lead recruiterfor virtually every kid on those teams. One of those players,Noah Dahlman, could very well be the best player I have coached in27 years; and Dustin Kerns was responsible for him coming toWofford. Dustin is smart and works as hard as anyone I havebeen around and is a great representative of any University heworks for. In short, I love the guy!”
Mike Young
Wofford College
Head Basketball Coach
“Dustin Kerns is a breath of fresh air! I have had theopportunity to know him both as a student coach, a young assistantcoach and now as a top veteran assistant coach. He shares a greatsense of balance in terms of love of basketball and love offamily. His wife Brittany was the student secretary for us atClemson and she shares his passion to improve in life both on andoff the court. Dustin loves to teach the game, study the gameand serves as a great role model for young players on how toapproach the game. He is special in the new age of coachingbecause of his work ethic and his ability to teach. That is uniqueand a blessing for a young coach in the college gametoday.”
Larry Shyatt
University of Wyoming
Head Basketball Coach
