Report Card - Dustin Kerns

[Bootsy]

I thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to do a "report card" on Coach Kerns during his tenure at App. My intent here isn't to pursue a narrative or be intentionally positive/negative. Just an opportunity for us to discuss where we stand, so please feel free to add to this list.

Positives
- Has the ability to "get more out of less"
- #takethestairs is more than just a buzzword for players & fans
- His engagement with students has energized that portion of the fanbase

Areas of concern
- Lack of consistent recruiting success

[Stonewall]

Conference Championship. NCAA bid. NIT. Undefeated home slate . Most wins in a season. Attendance. Beat SEC Champions on National tv … to name a few

[311neers]

Conference Championship. NCAA bid. NIT. Undefeated home slate . Most wins in a season. Attendance. Beat SEC Champions on National tv … to name a few

Way more pros than cons for sure. This is a con across the board but player retention has been low, which could be recruiting the wrong kids.

[Saint3333]

Until the recent exodus of players I’d say the majority here were very concerned about losing him and hopeful for an extension and doubling of pay.

The toughness, commitment in the offseason strength program and overall level of play has improved under Kerns. He inherited a product that for not to watch and averaged over 4k in attendance last year.

[BambooRdApp]

I think recruiting is all how you look at it. He recruited the transfer portal very well for last season. Not sure he can control the freshman guard from leaving from last year's squad for whatever reason he left. Abson was a good recruit. Marsh was a good recruit. Maybe he ends going somewhere decent....but the list of schools that were on Marsh list were not all inspiring to me. He would have gotten more playing time over time

[appgrad95&97]

After eight straight loosing seasons, Kerns's worst season is 16-16. Because of that I grade him on a curve. He gets an A- from me.

[Stonewall]

Recruiting and player development is reflected in the win loss record. I suppose as well as everything else.

[AtlAppMan]

Barring what is in process with the recent portal, which the outcome is still pending, so I will add my comments based on where we ended season and assume he figures out some solution.

What I have liked is he is on an upward trajectory with many very good results lately. This year was very good and I had anticipated he could continue to build on that to achieve much more. In my opinion, Fox couldn't get it done and had nothing to show from it "on the court". We kept Fox way too long based on his on court results. Some have said Kerns inherited from Fox and much of his recruiting and other success may be derived from Fox. It is hard for me to reconcile that when Kerns did the most in his 5th year, far removed from any meaningful influence from Fox. I am not trying to start a fight but that logic just doesn't resonate with me. It appears what we saw this season was basically all owned by Kerns. I don't think it is fair to say otherwise.

However, reality footnote:
The concern I now have is how does a coach that has accomplished his best work all of a sudden, theoretically lose all his guys? If they liked him and based on where they were collectively going, why would all of them bolt? I am concerned and even though we are dealing with a new world of NIL, etc, this is partially a reflection on Kerns and his ability to rally his guys. Or something else...

[AppStFan1]

Conference Championship. NCAA bid. NIT. Undefeated home slate . Most wins in a season. Attendance. Beat SEC Champions on National tv … to name a few

I was about to say the same. I would have to give him an A and it would have been A+ if we won the SBC tourney but the wins record is incredible. We might have lost a lot of players but Kerns has shown he can replace them. I think attendance increase is an underrated accomplishment.

[LongTimeAppFan]

A On the “just win baby!” scale. I think every mid major coach needs to find a way in the new NIL environment. Time will tell with Kerns.

[appvette]

Yeah, from his first year to current year, Kerns has taken us from worst attendance to best attendance (among the same teams that were in conference when he joined... We're still below a couple of the new additions). That's over a 4x improvement.

[hapapp]

In his entire coaching career of seven years, he has had only one losing season, and that was his first season. He took over a program that was in dire straits and proceeded to provide five years of at least .500 ball each season. He has secured three postseason berths in that time, though no wins in any of those. In his five seasons here, he has won a regular season championship, finished 2nd once, but finished sixth or worse in the other three. Prior to this year he was 70-58 overall and 39-32 in conference. Certainly better than the previous two coaches were able to accomplish. Obviously, 2023-24 was the high mark of his tenure in Boone. Given what was returning for 2024-25, there was every expectation that he would be primed to provide another top of the conference finish. That future remains very opaque at the moment. His tenure has been a positive one with a number of accomplishments that point to greater interest in the program. However, given where stand at this particular moment of uncertainty, I would have to give him an incomplete grade. How he manages restarting the program with a completely new roster, would determine how I personally would see his tenure. Grading solely on his time thru this season, I would give him a B.

[DenverOfTheEast]

Reading these, it is obvious you guys don't follow or understand the details of one's career path, everyone starting point in coaching is different, (example, Schreyer took over a castle, Coach K built the castle).

Scheduling:
How many NON D 1 wins does Kerns have in 5 seasons?
For 2 seasons Kerns coached an abbreviated Sun Belt schedule due to COVID, never having to travel west, some games were not played due to failed COVID test.

Roster:
What was the program like when he arrived, the roster more specially, sure App had a losing basketball record, but the previous coach left a very good roster for Kerns to start out with.
If Kerns leaves this spring the next coach will inherit absolutely nothing.
No coach in the history of App Basketball had the access to the portal like Kerns had, so therefore making it easier to sign or flip incoming talent instantaneously. All the other coaches had to sign HS kids and develop them.

And for what it's worth we should never mention Capel in the same breath as any of these other coaches. He laid on his office couch daily and watched Guiding Light.

AtlAppman saying we kept Fox too long shows his lack of knowledge on the situation, every coach should get 5 years, Fox walked into APR sanctions, post season ban, reduced practice days and 3 players suspended for failing a pee test. All Capel's mess. Plus a new conference to navigate through in 2014.

Kerns on court a B+ (if he woulda beat Norfolk State or USC UPSTATE I would make that an A)
Kerns off court a D-

#TeamClark

[Saint3333]

Denver shows up to parties late and snicker bars the pool.

No offseason issues before this one, no academics issues.

[MrCraig]

Denver shows up to parties late and snicker bars the pool.

No offseason issues before this one, no academics issues.

It’s truly fascinating how someone can’t have anything nice to say about the people who coach for the school that he, ostensibly, roots for.

It’s also GLARINGLY obvious that he waits for bad news to show up. I don’t remember a single DOTE post after App beat Auburn or won the regular season championship.

[DenverOfTheEast]

Denver shows up to parties late and snicker bars the pool.

No offseason issues before this one, no academics issues.

It’s truly fascinating how someone can’t have anything nice to say about the people who coach for the school that he, ostensibly, roots for.

It’s also GLARINGLY obvious that he waits for bad news to show up. I don’t remember a single DOTE post after App beat Auburn or won the regular season championship.

I been in South America for 2 months, Jan-Feb busy season for me. Also I say a lot of nice things about #TeamClark -- I am an objective person I don't drink all the kool aid you guys drink.

A lot more issues there than one can even type. a few solid seasons have kept them at bay, but last summer was really rocky for Kerns and this spring seems to be headed in that same direction. Let's just put it this way, Kerns cause DG more headaches than the average YC member would even suspect.

His(Kerns) approval rating by department peers would be at under 50% if they took a poll.

I gave Kerns a B+. that isn't all bad.

[appdaze]

I love all the "I know something you don't know" posts in all these basketball threads. Honestly, unless yall are willing to say what you know then shove it. Otherwise, everyone else is getting tired of you touching yourselves.

[appvette]

Denver shows up to parties late and snicker bars the pool.

No offseason issues before this one, no academics issues.

It’s truly fascinating how someone can’t have anything nice to say about the people who coach for the school that he, ostensibly, roots for.

It’s also GLARINGLY obvious that he waits for bad news to show up. I don’t remember a single DOTE post after App beat Auburn or won the regular season championship.

I been in South America for 2 months, Jan-Feb busy season for me. Also I say a lot of nice things about #TeamClark -- I am an objective person I don't drink all the kool aid you guys drink.

A lot more issues there than one can even type. a few solid seasons have kept them at bay, but last summer was really rocky for Kerns and this spring seems to be headed in that same direction. Let's just put it this way, Kerns cause DG more headaches than the average YC member would even suspect.

His(Kerns) approval rating by department peers would be at under 50% if they took a poll.

I gave Kerns a B+. that isn't all bad.

Haha an objective person. You'll say Clark inherited a mess (best team in program history) but Kerns inherited a great situation (10 years of terrible basketball).

[Bootsy]

SO...is it safe to say App State Men's Basketball progressed or regressed under DK's leadership?
Sometimes it makes sense to ignore diatribe/conjecture and examine objective metrics like:

- Wins/losses
- Home winning streaks
- Home game attendance
- Championships
- Tournament bids

The numbers don't lie. And I find it more impressive that Kerns has been able to accomplish this in spite of questionable recruiting and dealing with the TP.

[DOTE, sorry you're late to the party. I hope everything went well on your top secret mission fighting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua...or was it taking down big-time drug lords in Columbia? Just messing with you, bud ]

[AppStFan1]

Reading these, it is obvious you guys don't follow or understand the details of one's career path, everyone starting point in coaching is different, (example, Schreyer took over a castle, Coach K built the castle).

Scheduling:
How many NON D 1 wins does Kerns have in 5 seasons?
For 2 seasons Kerns coached an abbreviated Sun Belt schedule due to COVID, never having to travel west, some games were not played due to failed COVID test.

Roster:
What was the program like when he arrived, the roster more specially, sure App had a losing basketball record, but the previous coach left a very good roster for Kerns to start out with.
If Kerns leaves this spring the next coach will inherit absolutely nothing.
No coach in the history of App Basketball had the access to the portal like Kerns had, so therefore making it easier to sign or flip incoming talent instantaneously. All the other coaches had to sign HS kids and develop them.

And for what it's worth we should never mention Capel in the same breath as any of these other coaches. He laid on his office couch daily and watched Guiding Light.

AtlAppman saying we kept Fox too long shows his lack of knowledge on the situation, every coach should get 5 years, Fox walked into APR sanctions, post season ban, reduced practice days and 3 players suspended for failing a pee test. All Capel's mess. Plus a new conference to navigate through in 2014.

Kerns on court a B+ (if he woulda beat Norfolk State or USC UPSTATE I would make that an A)
Kerns off court a D-

#TeamClark

I was judging based on this year but if you are going that far back you have to give Kerns credit for taking us to the next step. As you mentioned, Fox took over a nightmare and he improved the situation but that did not take much because Capel had us at the bottom of the league. The APR deal was a disaster, like you mentioned.

I am grading Kerns on a curve because he has improved everything about the team a lot from even the Fox years. I would quickly drop the grade to a B- or C+ if he takes a huge step back next year though.