From Creek to Columbia

Some basketball players make it look easy.

Almost 18 years ago, Tates Creek High School senior Darrin Horn was Lexington’s premier high school basketball player. A first-team all-state selection, the versatile Horn led the Commodores to the 1991 state championship game in Rupp Arena.

Horn’s 23 points and seven rebounds in the title game weren’t enough to overcome Louisville’s Fairdale High School, which clinched its second consecutive state crown with a 67-63 win.

“We gave everything we had,” Horn said on March 16, 1991, after the loss in the state title game. “Tonight just didn’t happen to be our night. We did all we could.”

On Saturday, Horn will return to Rupp Arena.

Now, he’s the head coach at South Carolina.

“When I get to Lexington on Saturday, I’ll be focused on the game, but it’ll be really neat for my family and friends,” Horn said. “My parents, my two brothers, my sister — they all still live in Lexington and they’ll be there.”

Horn’s climb up the coaching ladder, to this point, has seemed just as effortless as his playing days. Immediately after graduating from Western Kentucky in 1995, Horn began his ascent — first as a graduate assistant for the Hilltoppers, then as an assistant coach at Morehead State and Marquette before he returned to his alma mater in 2003 to serve as head coach.

After the Hilltoppers’ improbable dash to the Sweet 16 in last year’s NCAA tournament, Horn’s resume almost begged for a job offer from a top-tier program. Former South Carolina coach Dave Odom retired after last season — and just four days after Western’s tournament run ended, Horn was tapped for the job at South Carolina. The 35-year-old Horn is the Southeastern Conference’s youngest coach.

“Preparation met an opportunity, and that’s a good way to describe Darrin’s success at Western and now at South Carolina,” said Nolan Barger, Horn’s high school basketball coach. “He prepared himself intentionally and when preparation met the opportunity, he was there.”

During Tates Creek’s state title push in 1991, the popular phrase to describe the Commodores was “teamwork.” Barger attributed the team’s chemistry to Horn’s ability to tie his teammates together — a trait that has followed him from Lexington all the way to Columbia, S.C., and back to Lexington for Saturday afternoon.

“It was instinctive; the kids on the team respected him. He worked hard at it, and he was a natural leader,” Barger said. “Every kid on the floor has the potential to be a leader, and every kid has the potential to be a butthead. It’s just a matter of how the right things are emphasized. He will lead his kids in the right direction with his personality and strength of character.”

Horn’s coaching philosophy preaches the importance of character, and he attributed it to his formative years under Barger at Tates Creek. A big part of playing well as a team, Horn said, is a high level of trust from player to player, all the way up to the coaching staff.

Another integral part of Horn’s coaching ideology is a strong work ethic — also instilled in him by Barger.

“I think many of my core principles from a basketball standpoint came from him,” Horn said. “Maybe not from an X’s-and-O’s standpoint, but just the basics. If you did all that stuff, the rest will take care of itself.”

South Carolina is off to a surprising 15-4 start, including a strong 4-2 in league play. Barger attributed Horn’s early-tenure success to developing a “culture and mindset of hard work.”

Barger even went as far as to say he wouldn’t be surprised if the Gamecocks came into Rupp Arena and gave the Cats a run for their money. He also noted that UK probably wouldn’t be caught unaware after “getting slapped upside the head against Mississippi.”

No matter the outcome of Saturday’s contest between Horn’s Gamecocks and UK, Barger (now retired from coaching) said he’ll be pulling for the kid that, 18 years ago, made the state runner-up finish look easy.

“If I had five guys on the floor like Darrin Horn, I could’ve coached the rest of my life.”