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Tuesday afternoon in the Frank McGuire Room of the Colonial Center, Darrin Horn was officially introduced as the next men's basketball coach for South Carolina.
The press conference started with athletic director Eric Hyman talking about the process that went into hiring Horn. Hyman talked about how, after Dave Odom announced his retirement 10 weeks ago, one of the first things he did was talk to the current players, former players and the university about the characteristics they would like in their next coach.
Some of the traits that the players and board members told Hyman they wanted in a coach were "high energy," "passionate," "disciplinarian" and "good recruiter." Hyman feels that he found someone who fulfills all those requirements in Horn.
"Darrin's name was there in the beginning of the search and then his stock began to rise during the NCAA tournament," Hyman said.
Hyman proceeded to bring up USC President Andrew Sorensen, who officially welcomed Horn, his wife and their two children by presenting them with Gamecock hats.
Finally, Horn took his turn at the podium and expressed how happy he was to be coming to Columbia.
"I am thrilled to be joining the Gamecock family, the university family, and this community," Horn said. "This is a special place to be along side other great coaches in other sports, like Steve Spurrier and Ray Tanner."
Horn, who will be the youngest head coach in the SEC next season, expressed his plans for the future of the Carolina basketball program.
"We want to compete nationally and we want to do it the right way," Horn said. "That means performing well on and off the court."
Horn's teams had some of the highest graduation rates in the country during his five seasons at Western Kentucky, and he plans on bringing the same academic emphasis to Carolina.
Horn, who was an academic All-American during his playing days at Western Kentucky, said that "academics are important to me, so they are going to be important to this program."
Another key aspect that Horn touched on was a change from Odom's slow-down half court style to a more up-tempo full court style of play, a style that he thinks the current roster should be able to adapt to.
"I know we are athletic and that we can score the basketball, but we struggle to keep the other team from scoring," Horn said.
Another major point that Horn made was an emphasis on better recruiting within the state of South Carolina.
"We need to start on the inside and work our way out," said Horn in reference to recruiting. "There is a lot of talent in this state and we need to put up a fence and keep that talent in South Carolina."
One final area that Horn wants to improve is the support of the fans, especially from students.
"It's a very passionate fan base, but it has to grow," Horn said "We need to sell out the arena, and that needs to start with the students."
After the press conference, Horn told a group of reporters that while he wants to program to be competitive on a national scale, his short-term goal is to become more competitive within in the SEC.
"If you are good enough to win the SEC Championship, then you are good enough to compete nationally," Horn said.
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