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[B]I had the opportunity to chat with new Western Kentucky assistant coach Allen Edwards[/B] last night about his new job and how he feels about returning to the Bluegrass State.
Edwards, a Miami native, came to the University of Kentucky in the 1994-95 recruiting class. During his Wildcat career, he collected two national championship rings and participated in three Final Fours.
After playing some professional basketball, Edwards transitioned into college coaching. He has spent time on the staffs at Morehead State, Virginia Commonwealth and Towson.
Now, he returns to Kentucky as an assistant coach at WKU.
Here is a chat with the latest Hilltopper, Allen Edwards:
[B]Allen, I could sense when I talked to you last week that you were happy about returning to Kentucky. How are you feeling about a return to the Commonwealth?[/B]
It’s a great feeling. I just have an overwhelming excitement about coming back to the state and the opportunity that I have at a tremendous program like Western Kentucky.
[B]Western Kentucky is technically, probably still considered a mid-major program even though they have experienced tremendous success on a national level. Tell me your thoughts on the WKU basketball program.[/B]
If you are in the basketball realm, you know what type of program WKU is. They are a team that could easily go on a run like Butler did last season. It’s not impossible at all for the Hilltopper program to do the same thing. I feel WKU is just one NCAA Tourney away from removing the mid-major label for good.
[B]What will be your role on the Western staff?[/B]
I’ll be the assistant coach, but after speaking to Coach McDonald, I think I will have a hand in many different things. As a staff, we’ll all get out and recruit, we’ll all coach and we’ll all scout. Much like we try to teach the players, the coaching staff will be a team effort where everyone will help each other.
[B]You had a job at Towson when you pursued the WKU job. What would you say led you to seek out the Hilltopper job?[/B]
It is just a great opportunity for me at this time in my career. Knowing the program like I do, it was just too good to let pass by. I really want to be a part of the tradition at Western. They’ve had guys like Coach Haskins, Coach Willard, Coach Horn and now Coach McDonald. It is a standard of excellence that I wanted to be involved with.
Coach Kennedy and Towson were great to me, but this opportunity presented itself and I had to go for it.
[B]How have you been received by folks here in Kentucky since you’ve returned?[/B]
It’s been well wishes from everyone. I’ve been stopped publicly several times and congratulated on getting the job.
I think they know that I’m the same person that they saw compete on the floor for UK and I’ll bring that same attitude with me to Bowling Green.
[B]Allen, anything else you’d like to add for the readers?[/B]
Just that I can’t express enough the excitement I have for my opportunity and for coming back to Kentucky. I’m overly excited.
[B]I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me tonight and best wishes with the new job. I’ll be looking forward to watching the Hilltoppers in action this season.[/B]
Thank you for the opportunity.
[I]NOTE: This is the interview in its entirety; it originally appeared on my site over at [URL=”http://www.allkyhoops.com”]AllKyHoops.com[/URL][/I]
