Horn Invited To Game By Crean

Am I The Only One That Feels Like Darrin Horn Is a SNAKE? Has He Always Not Cared Anything About The Cats, Even Though He Grew Up In Lexington Or Am I Being Too Harsh. He's a Complete PRICK In My Opinion.

UK basketball notebook: Horn says Calipari, Crean represent 'total package' as coaches

By Jerry Tipton — jtipton@herald-leader.com

Posted: 7:44pm on Mar 24, 2012; Modified: 6:37am on Mar 25, 2012

On the day before the NCAA Tournament South Regional semifinals, former South Carolina Coach Darrin Horn chatted court-side with Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart. The chance meeting ignited Internet postings speculating on what was said and how any information Horn gained could be used against UK.

Horn, who attended the South Regional as a guest of Indiana Coach Tom Crean, smiled at the perceived intrigue.

"I'm not offering anything they don't already know," Horn said of the Indiana coaches. Crean, his boss at Marquette and earlier an assistant at Western Kentucky when Horn played for the Hilltoppers, invited Horn to hang around as a friend, not as an informant.

"It turns into whatever," Horn said of the wireless world. "That really changed things. You've got to understand that's what we're dealing with now."

Horn, who played at Tates Creek High, saluted UK Coach John Calipari and Crean as role models for how to run high-profile programs in an age of 24/7, uh, communication.

"Two of the best guys in the country," he said. "They're the total package in understanding what the deal's about. Recruiting. Coaching. Marketing. Media. Both see it and understand it. And they're willing to, and have the ability to, deal with it, and do it well."

Horn, 39, hit a bump in the road in his coaching career at South Carolina. In four seasons, he compiled a 60-63 record, 23-41 in the Southeastern Conference.

Having labored for a South Carolina program that hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 1973, Horn plans to be careful about where he resumes his coaching career.

"Obviously, I want to coach," he said. "I still have a passion for it. At the same time, I want to make sure another situation is one that is a really good situation in terms of opportunity to win."

Horn said he'll weigh a program's history of success and tradition, and whether there's a potential fan following that can be whipped into a recruiting asset.

No coaching jobs are easy, he said. All involve challenges. But, it's no coincidence that this year's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 round featured schools strongly identified with college basketball: Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Michigan State, Marquette, Syracuse, Ohio State, Kansas, Florida ...

"A little bit of a Who's Who," Horn said.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/24/2124731/uk-basketball-notebook-horn-says.html#storylink=cpy