Article Written by Zac Chapman. Photo Provided by Kaitlyn Zuehl.
After eight seasons with West Texas A&M University, Quincy Henderson became the 14th Men’s Basketball Head Coach at St. Cloud State University.
“What made me stand out is kinda hard for me to say,” said Henderson on being hired as the next head coach. “I think I’ve got a long-term vision of what we want to be here and what we want to do. Not just this year and next year, but five and 10 years from now, what the program is going to look like.”
Henderson said there are a lot of steps toward that vision, one of which being talent.
“The recruitment side is big. We’ve hit really heavily on regional recruiting, and we’ve been at that aggressively really the entirety of the year. You can be an elite coach, but if you don’t have elite talent, you’re only going to be as good as your talent is.”
Along with recruiting new talent, Henderson made new offensive and defensive game plans. Even the structure of practice, weightlifting and conditioning changed.
“I want guys who are internally motivated and want to come to work, and if you’re that type of person, you’ll fit well here. I want to treat you like a professional. You’re here for a reason.”
Senior forward Luke Taylor thanked Henderson for his individual game growth.
“For me, one of the simplest things I think he did was just believe in me and let me play the way I can play,” said Taylor. “He put a lot of confidence in me and kind of let me do my thing. Just that freedom, I think, improved my game a lot.”
Junior forward Matthew Willert acknowledged that Henderson isn’t known to be intense and treats the team fairly.
“How he coaches us is really nice. He doesn’t really yell; he doesn’t get super mad at you. He’s just kind of gentle and he doesn’t really call you out,” said Willert. “If he does, it can maybe be intense sometimes, but he doesn’t really hold it against you. That’s the biggest for our confidence and letting us be who we are as players. He gave us a lot of freedom to do what we do.”
The team also gave Henderson the freedom to be himself.
“He’s got a very dry sense of humor and has an oddly, super deep voice,” said Tony Dahl, Redshirt Freshman. “He’ll just crack jokes that are hilarious to us, but he won’t even crack a smile. I don’t know how he does it, but it kills me. It’s the funniest thing ever. He shows no emotion and it’s hilarious.”
With his first year as head coach under his belt, Henderson looks to build upon his first season as head coach as he prepares for his second year this fall.
”I think it was a good start, but I don’t think 10 wins is ever going to be enough to say, ‘hey it was a great year.’ I’m not sure 15 or maybe even 20 [wins will be enough]. Our goal is to win at the highest level possible here, and I think it can be done.”
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