COLUMN: In championship season, Brad Korn proved 'a whole lot of people right'

Brad Korn has been the head coach of the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team for five years and has seen it all.

• Starting his career during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The transfer portal changes the way recruiting is conducted.

• An ever-changing Ohio Valley Conference, where Belmont and Murray State are replaced by former DII schools.

• A player led the way through four years, ending his career in March Madness.

• Building a team from scratch after said March Madness run.

• Athletes no longer have to lose years of eligibility in junior colleges, changing how they're recruited.

College sports evolved right around the same time Korn developed during his first career stint as a head coach. He arrived at Cape Girardeau after serving as Bruce Weber's assistant coach at Kansas State around a time when coaches wearing suits were the norm. Since the pandemic, he and many other coaches wear tracksuits and his all-black pullover-pant combo has become a signature look for the 43-year-old.

He took a program that was gradually going down for four years to gradually improving in three, including their second conference tournament championship in program history.

"There's never been a stable ground for us to lay our foundation on," Korn said.

Yet through all that, Korn has gone from suffering through SEMO's worst season since the final year of his predecessor (7-24 in 2019-20) to a share of the OVC regular season championship, something that hasn’t happened since Gary Garner led them to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2000.

During that nine-win season, the core players brought to SEMO from fellow NCAA Division I programs throughout the Midwest learned college basketball the hard way and grew up through the hardships and are now the main components of the Redhawks' current success.

"I take great pride in the 9-22 season last year," Korn said. "I didn't compromise who I was and what I believed in as a coach. I didn't necessarily lose faith in myself. It was more so pouring into Braxton [Stacker], Rob [Martin] BJ [Ward], TJ [Biel], David [Idada], all those guys, and they came back. So you give those kids a bunch of credit because they could have run and hid when things got tough. And it was tough a year ago, but they didn't waver on me, and I didn't waver on them, and I didn't waver on my confidence in what I believe I am as a coach. I know the way that we do things here, so it's just nice to give back to people who gave to you."

Even in year 5, this has indeed been a year of firsts for the Redhawks. After defeating in-state rival Lindenwood 74-58 on Saturday, Feb. 22, SEMO extended its winning streak to nine games, which is the longest ever as a DI program. The Redhawks have the opportunity to close out the regular season tying their longest streak since winning 11 straight in 1989-90.

SEMO’s 12-3 home record and 14 conference wins are also the most since that special 1999-2000 season. Not only did Korn take his team from nine wins to 19 from one season to the next, but the only other team in college basketball to go from second to last in their conference last year to first place this year is former OVC rival Jacksonville State. Michigan and Louisville are also the only two teams to go from last place to within a game of leading their respective conferences.

Considering that this team was picked to finish seventh in the OVC this year, naming Korn Coach of the Year is a slam dunk.

The players saw the preseason ranking as a sign of disrespect and it likely motivated them. However, for Korn, it was more about who believed from the beginning that mattered.

"I'm not here to prove anybody wrong," Korn said. "I'm here to prove a whole lot of people right. So for us to have a good season to this point is gratifying."

This team reached its success the old-fashioned way, through the development of the core group of players. It becomes much more gratifying to see the sparse crowds they played in front of a year ago gradually grow this season to the climax of 3,920 fans in attendance to the Redhawks home finale.

"We love it when we can get a lot of people in here," SEMO's Braxton Stacker said. "Last year we weren't winning a bunch so it's understandable. But now we're in first place right now so we try to keep the top spot."

A week ago, the highest attendance mark this season was 2,692 when the Redhawks defeated Tennessee Tech 83-69. The previous Saturday's home win against Tennessee State on Feb. saw 2,379.

"That just comes with winning," said SEMO guard Rob Martin. "I appreciate all the fans coming out and supporting us and it helps us."

It's because of the men's rise that gives the women's team a cause for patience.

While the women's team has struggled in Briley Palmer's first year at SEMO, the foundation of the program may also be laid similarly to the men.

After all, the pieces are already there. Zoe Best has proven to be one of the best freshman scorers in the OVC, as she has consistently been among the top 10 in the league with an average of 13.6 points per game.

She has come from a high school that never lost a game during her time to a college team that seemingly never wins. The Redhawks 51-49 win over Western Illinois on Feb. 20 snapped an 11-game losing streak.

It has certainly been an uphill climb for Best to make both herself and the Redhawks the best.

”Zoe's young,” Palmer said. ”I gotta help her build that confidence, and I think just reaching out to her and letting her know that's what I'm going to be looking forward to coaching you and getting you back to that confident kid that you were starting because, I mean, she's able to do it.“

Palmer inherited Best, and one of her biggest challenges going into the offseason is keeping her at SEMO and finding a companion piece similar to what Teddy Washington Jr. has been to Rob Martin.

“We've all seen her grow in different ways,” Palmer said. ”I think it was tough for her, going through some adversity early and just not winning as much as she did in Incarnate Word is going to test stuff, but I think that throughout she's stuck it out and hasn't let it affect her game with frustration or things like that.”

Jackson was originally supposed to be that player but injuries have derailed her season shortly after it started. Here’s hoping a healthy version of her paired with Best and Lexi McCully can lead to a situation where both men’s and women’s teams would be conference contenders.

After all, patience has proven to be a virtue in SEMO.