Andy McLean
It was a cloudy, dim, early-November morning in Boone. App State men’s basketball’s preseason practices were underway and beginning to pick up pace. Second-year head coach Dustin Kerns sat swiveling around in his office chair, thoughtfully.
“I think before you win, you have to understand what loses,” he said.
Before Kerns became the 22nd head coach of the Mountaineers in March 2019, App State basketball hadn’t finished a season with a winning record since 2010-11.
Former head coach Jim Fox, who spent five years in Boone, finished with a record of 56-99. Multiple batches of App State alumni never experienced a winning basketball season during their time in college.