Jason Hooten ready to hit ground running
4/4/2010 8:42:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Cody Stark Assistant Sports Editor
HUNTSVILLE - Everything in Jason Hooten's world is happening so fast. Sam Houston State's new head basketball coach admits he is still trying to get a handle on things.
Just a week after Bob Marlin resigned to take over as the head coach of Louisiana-Lafayette, Bearkats athletic director Bobby Williams pulled the trigger on promoting Hooten on Friday.
"It feels great. It is a tremendous feeling knowing that a lot of hard work and blood, sweat and tears is starting to pay off, not that it didn't pay off as an assistant. I enjoyed all my years as an assistant," Hooten said Friday. "This is something I dreamed about and it came through.
"I want to think Bobby Williams and (SHSU president) Dr. (James) Gaertner for giving me this opportunity."
It didn't take long for Williams to realize he didn't have to look far to replace Marlin, who won 225 games, three Southland Conference regular-season championships and earned two NCAA tournament appearances in 12 years at Sam Houston.
Williams took phone calls and read e-mails from interested candidates, but he kept coming back to Hooten, who has been a Bearkat assistant coach for the past six years. Sam Houston has gone 109-47 during that stretch.
As the program's top recruiter, Hooten brought some talented players to SHSU. The Bearkats won the most games in a single season (25) since moving up to the Division I level this year and claimed the Southland's regular-season and tournament titles.
"As I was evaluating all the potential candidates and inquiries we were getting and spending a lot of time with coach Hooten, talking about the program and what they have done and the impact he had on it, and talking with the players, alumni and staff on campus, it became very evident he was the choice," Williams said. "It was overwhelming to see all the support. Coach Hooten and I had some good meetings and all this other stuff was coming together.
"I felt like we should still open (the job) up and I was looking. But after all the support, and he and I really meshed and clicked, it felt like the right time to do it."
Hooten is ready to get to work as soon as possible. He plans to visit with the current players and share his vision for the future of the program.
"The first thing I'm going to do is meet with the guys. I think they were behind me 100 percent," Hooten said. "I want them to know I'm going to be there for them and looking forward to working with them and coach them. It is going to be a different kind of capacity than the past because I have been the assistant coach.
"It will be different getting to know them in a different way, but I know what makes these guys tick."
Hooten has talked with the three high school recruits Sam Houston signed last fall and it sounds like those guys are on board as well.
"I think we have secured the three guys we signed early and they are excited to come," Hooten added. "We obviously have two scholarships remaining and are working very hard to fill those. We are going to start having guys come in for visits soon."
Hooten would also like to put together a staff as soon as possible. Sam Houston assistant coach Neil Hardin has yet to decide whether he is going to stay or possibly join Marlin at Louisiana-Lafayette.
"Maybe more than anything right now is trying to get a staff together," the coach said. "I learned from two great guys that you are only as good as the guys who work for you. I have some people in mind, a lot of guys who would do a great job. Obviously I would like to keep some guys that are on the staff."
There are sure to be some changes, but the philosophy on the court is going to stay the same. Marlin preached defense and Hooten is the same way.
Offensively, expect the Bearkats to keep lighting up the scoreboard.
"If it isn't broke, don't fix it. Coach (Marlin) had great success for 12 years and I have been here six. We aren't going to change a lot. We are going to play the same way," Hooten said. "We are going to get up and down the floor. We are going to shoot the ball like we have been doing and try to score 80 points a game.
"We are also going to try to be the best defense in the league. I'm old-school and I was taught by a guy who was old-school. The bottom line is that defense wins championships. We are also going to be the kind of team everyone wants to come see play because we are going to play hard."
