Hank Plona (born September 30, 1985) is an American basketball coach who is the current head coach at Western Kentucky. He has previously coached at Providence, Arkansas–Fort Smith, Indian Hills Community College and South Plains College.
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Western Kentucky |
| Conference | Conference USA |
| Record | 2–2 (.500) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | September 30, 1985 Avon, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Providence ('07) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2007–2009 | Providence (GA) |
| 2009–2010 | Arkansas–Fort Smith (assistant) |
| 2010–2011 | Indian Hills CC (assistant) |
| 2011–2015 | South Plains JC (assistant) |
| 2015–2023 | Indian Hills CC |
| 2023–2024 | Western Kentucky (assistant) |
| 2024–present | Western Kentucky |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 2–2 (.500) (NCAA) 225–35 (.865) (NJCAA) |
Early life
editPlona grew up in Avon, Connecticut, and graduated from Avon High School in 2003.[1] He then attended Providence College in Rhode Island, where he received a bachelor's degree in 2007 and master's degree two years later.[2]
Coaching career
editPlona started his coaching career at Providence, serving from 2007 to 2009 as a student manager and graduate assistant.[3] He then assisted the Arkansas–Fort Smith Lions in the 2009–10 season and followed it up with one year as an assistant in 2010–11 at Indian Hills Community College.[3] Afterwards, Plona assisted at South Plains College from 2011 to 2015, helping them compile an overall record of 116–21 in his tenure which included an undefeated national championship season in 2011–12 and another appearance in the title game in 2014–15.[4]
Plona was hired as the head coach at Indian Hills in 2015.[5] He served eight years there and had an 86.6% winning percentage, helping them win the conference regular season title eight straight times, the conference postseason championship six times and appear in the NJCAA Tournament in all but one of his seasons.[3] He was selected the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Coach of the Year four times and was the NJCAA District Coach of the Year five times, with 12 of his players being named All-American, 42 being named All-Region, and 59 ultimately playing at the NCAA Division I level.[3] In all but one week in his entire tenure at Indian Hills, Plona's team was in the national rankings, which included being ranked No. 1 on six different occasions.[3]
Plona resigned from Indian Hills to become an assistant for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in 2023, having won 225 games there.[6] After one season as an assistant, he was announced as the team's new head coach on April 2, 2024.[7]
Head coaching record
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Hills Community College[8] (Iowa Community College Athletic Conference) (2015–2023) | |||||||||
| 2015-16 | Indian Hills CC | 29–5 | 7–1 | 1st | NJCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 2016-17 | Indian Hills CC | 29–5 | 7–1 | 1st | NJCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 2017-18 | Indian Hills CC | 33–1 | 8–0 | 1st | NJCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 2018-19 | Indian Hills CC | 27–7 | 7–1 | 1st | NJCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| 2019-20 | Indian Hills CC | 30–3 | 7–1 | 1st | Postseason Cancelled | ||||
| 2020-21 | Indian Hills CC | 21–3 | 19–2 | 1st | District Champions | ||||
| 2021-22 | Indian Hills CC | 27–6 | 3–1 | 1st | NJCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 2022-23 | Indian Hills CC | 29–5 | 4–0 | 1st | NJCAA 3rd Round | ||||
| Indian Hills CC: | 225–35 (.865) | 62–7 (.899) | |||||||
| Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (Conference USA) (2024–Present) | |||||||||
| 2024–25 | Western Kentucky | 2-2 | 0–0 | ||||||
| Western Kentucky: | 2–2 (.500) | 0–0 (–) | |||||||
| Total: | 227–37 (.860) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Hank Plona". Arkansas–Fort Smith Lions.
- ^ McNamara, Kevin (April 19, 2016). "College Basketball Journal: Ex-Hoosier picks Providence". The Providence Journal.
- ^ a b c d e "Top assistant Hank Plona named WKU's new head basketball coach". Bowling Green Daily News. April 2, 2024.
- ^ "Plona Returns to Indian Hills as Head Coach". KTVO. April 13, 2015.
- ^ Jackson, Scott (April 17, 2015). "Hank Is Here! Plona back on IHCC campus as new head men's basketball coach". Ottumwa Courier.
- ^ Jackson, Scott (May 3, 2023). "A fitting farewell". Ottumwa Courier.
- ^ "Hank Plona Named Western Kentucky Head Men's Basketball Coach". Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. April 2, 2024.
- ^ "IHCC Men's Basketball Record Book". Indian Hills Community College. April 3, 2024.