Indiana-native Kente’ Hart has joined the IUPUI Jaguars’ basketball staff as an assistant coach. Hart comes to IUPUI after having spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Florida Southwestern State College in Cypress Lake, Fla. He joined the Wofford College staff in July of this year before then accepting the role on Crenshaw’s coaching staff.
Hart spent four seasons at Florida Southwestern State, helping the Bucs to multiple conference crowns and consistent appearances in the NJCAA National Tournament, including a fifth-place finish in 2019. That season, FSW earned the program’s first-ever No. 1 ranking and stayed atop the polls for the majority of the season. Hart helped 13 different players advance to the NCAA Division I level, including three who moved on to Power Five institutions.
Hart spent seven years as an assistant at USC Upstate from 2011-18, helping the Spartans to their first-ever postseason win at the Division I level in the 2012 CIT with a win over Kent State. The 2014-15 season saw USC Upstate rack up 24 wins and during Hart’s time with the Spartans, they collected Power Five wins over Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Virginia Tech. USC Upstate earned postseason berths in four of six seasons from 2011-2017.
Hart began his coaching career at his alma mater, Carson-Newman, as a student assistant coach in 2007-08 as he completed his undergraduate degree.
As a player, Hart was a Second Team All-South Atlantic Conference performer and Team MVP as a senior at Carson-Newman after averaging 15.1 points, 6.0 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 46 percent from three-point range. He finished 15th in the country in assists that season. He began his collegiate career at Shawnee Community College where he earned First Team All-Conference and Team MVP honors as a sophomore after averaging 18.1 points and 6.1 assists per game.
In his career, Hart has recruited 16 student-athletes to the junior college level that later earned Division I scholarships. In addition, he helped develop current Phoenix Suns forward Torrey Craig while at USC Upstate. Craig, the 2012 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, originally played professionally in Australia before finally signing an NBA contract with the Denver Nuggets as a 27-year old in 2017.
Hart is originally from Evansville, Ind.
https://iupuijags.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/kente-hart/1129
