Men's Basketball

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See Below For WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT COACH KERNS

Entering his seventh season at Santa Clara University in 2013-14, Dustin Kerns helped the Broncos post 24+ victories for the second time in three years in 2012-13.  Collecting a 26-12 record, the Broncos won the College Basketball Invitational post-season tournament after winning the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2011.  The Broncos final RPI was No. 68 and record-wise, they claimed the biggest turnaround in Division I basketball this year.  The 26 wins were just one shy of the school record set by the 1968-69 team who collected 27 wins.

Santa Clara won 26 games in 2012-13 after winning 21 regular season games for the first time in almost 20 years on the Mission campus.  Kerns has been essential to the Broncos run, helping coach two first-team All-WCC members in 2013 in Marc Trasolini and Kevin Foster, the second-all-time leading scorer in West Coast Conference history.  In addition to their success on the court, all five seniors are on tap to graduate in June as well.

All told the Broncos combined to break 22 school and WCC records in 2012-13.  Foster broke the all-time WCC record for threes made, finishing tied for fourth in Division I history with 431.  In addition to winning the CBI and finishing fourth in the WCC, the Broncos broke eight individual career records and five individual season records.  As a team the Broncos broke eight season records as well.  They also led the West Coast Conference in two team categories and two individual categories overall and two team categories and three individual categories in league games.

Kerns also helped lead the Broncos to one of their most successful seasons in 2010-11, finishing the season with 24 victories -- third most in school history -- and winning the CollegeInsider.com Post-Season Tournament Championship.  Foster was named to the All-WCC First Team and an NABC All-District honoree; Evan Roquemore was named to the Freshman All-WCC Team and Troy Payne was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year. 

In 2011, the Broncos also set eight team records, seven individual season records, two individual career records and four freshman individual records in 2010-11.  Foster, who averaged a WCC-leading 20.2 ppg in 2010-11, was named by CollegeInsider.com to the Mid-Major All-America Team and the WCC’s Most Valuable Player. His 140 three’s were No. 1 nationally and No. 9 all-time in the NCAA. Both Foster and Trasolini scored their 1000^th point during the year.  All four seniors – Ben Dowdell, Troy Payne, Nate Mensah and Michael Santos – will graduate in June 2011.

Prior to becoming an assistant coach on Coach Keating's staff Kerns served as Director of Basketball Operations at Santa Clara for one season. Kerns joined the Broncos in 2007 from Wofford College, where he spent three seasons as an assistant coach.

"He has done a phenomenal job in building relationships on the West coast and has continued his relationships back east and in the mid-west to help us solidify our recruiting, said Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating.  His attention to detail and diligence in the daily effort to improve are exactly what we strive for in our program.  On top of many things, Dustin spends a great deal of time developing our players on and off the court."

During his tenure at Wofford, Kerns helped the Terriers set a school record for single season wins, en route to the school's best overall record at the Division I level at that time. In addition, Wofford posted wins at Auburn and Cincinnati in those three seasons. Tyler Berg and Shane Nichols were both All-Southern Conference selections at Wofford with Junior Salters being named to the all-conference freshman team in 2006-07. His responsibilities included on-floor coaching, recruiting, scouting, team travel, camp director and working with the perimeter players.  The 2005 and 2006 recruiting classes went on to win back to back Southern Conference Championships including Southern Conference Player of the Year Noah Dahlman.  Those recruiting classes included Noah Dahlman who became Wofford's All-time leading scorer and All Southern Conference Players Junior Salters and Tim Johnson.   

Prior to joining Mike Young's staff at Wofford, Kerns spent a season as a graduate assistant under then-head coach Buzz Peterson at Tennessee. The Vols earned a berth in the NIT that season. Kerns was camp and coaching clinic director during his time in Knoxville, while assisting with team scouting, compliance and academics. He received a Masters of Science from Tennessee in 2004.

Kerns' first job in college basketball was at Tennessee Tech, as he spent the 2002-03 season as the program's Director of Basketball Operations. He assisted head coach Mike Sutton with all aspects of the program, including opponent scouting, on-campus recruiting, scheduling, film exchange and team academics. The team won 20 games that season and reached the Ohio Valley Championship game.

Kerns is a 2002 graduate of Clemson University, where he earned a degree in secondary education. As an undergraduate, he worked as an student assistant for Tigers men's basketball team under then-head coach Larry Shyatt, helping organize summer camps, while also assisting with the scout films.

Kerns was hired to coach at the prestigious Michael Jordan Flight School three summers in a row during 2001-2003.  

A Kingsport, Tennessee native, the 33-year-old Kerns played at Dobyns-Bennett High School, which ranks first in the nation in all time wins at the prep level.

Kerns is married to the former Brittany Wright and they welcomed their first child, Emory Sulianne, on October 19, 2011.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT COACH KERNS

“Dustin Kerns is one of my all-time favorite assistants in 10 years as a head coach.  We played in two NCAA tournaments over the past three seasons and Dustin Kerns was the lead recruiter for virtually every kid on those teams.  One of those players, Noah Dahlman, could very well be the best player I have coached in 27 years; and Dustin Kerns was responsible for him coming to Wofford.  Dustin is smart and works as hard as anyone I have been around and is a great representative of any University he works for.  In short, I love the guy!”

Mike Young
Wofford College
Head Basketball Coach

“Dustin Kerns is a breath of fresh air! I have had the opportunity to know him both as a student coach, a young assistant coach and now as a top veteran assistant coach. He shares a great sense of balance in terms of love of basketball and love of family.  His wife Brittany was the student secretary for us at Clemson and she shares his passion to improve in life both on and off the court.  Dustin loves to teach the game, study the game and serves as a great role model for young players on how to approach the game.  He is special in the new age of coaching because of his work ethic and his ability to teach. That is unique and a blessing for a young coach in the college game today.”

Larry Shyatt
University of Wyoming
Head Basketball Coach