Courtney Boyd and Adam Hocking earn highest coaching honors in Heart of America

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - As the Heart of America Athletic Conference announced the 2021-22 season awards, two coaches on the Clarke University women's basketball staff will take home their highest honor within the conference this season.

Head coach Courtney Boyd earns the Coach of the Year award from the Heart for the first time in her five seasons leading the Pride and assistant coach Adam Hocking receives Assistant Coach of the Year honors in the first season the conference has handed out that award.

"Being selected Coach of the Year is a great honor," Boyd said. "When you have great players and surround yourself with a staff that compliments each other with their strengths, that carries over to the success of the program."

"I'm grateful for the recognition but it's really a reflection of our entire coaching staff and the players in our program," Hocking said. "The Heart of America is one of the best conferences in the country so the recognition and amount of success we've had says a lot about the amount of hard work our players and coaches have put into it."

Since being brought on as the head coach for women's basketball in 2017, Boyd has either won the same amount of more games in each consecutive season outside of the 2020-21 season where they won 23 games but five games were canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.

The increase in wins culminates with this season's 26-win campaign, already the most wins in program history without any postseason games being played as the Pride captured their first regular season championship in the Heart since Clarke joined the Heart in 2016-17.

This recognition also puts a bow on what will be one of Boyd's most memorable seasons in terms of her coaching accomplishments as she become the all-time leader in wins in program history when she reached 97 wins at Clarke on Nov. 20. She also reached 100 total head coaching wins in her overall career earlier in the season and became the first coach at Clarke to win 100 games in women's basketball program history with her current win total at 117.

"While her records speak for themselves, Coach Boyd is a relentless leader for our program and someone I really look up to," Hocking said. "She has been a tremendous mentor and role model for myself and our players."

Finishing with their 26-4 overall record and 17-2 in the Heart to win that conference regular season title, CU averaged 74.7 points per game and shot 44.1 percent from the field over the 30 regular season games as they also shot exactly 44.1 percent over their 19 conference games. On the defensive end, the allowed just 60.5 points per game over the entire season and ramped it up in conference play to allowing 57.7 points per game with an opponents' shooting percentage finishing at 36.3 percent overall.

On the individual side, Clarke finished with five players scoring in double figures led by senior center Emma Kelchen's 12.4 points per game as she also leads the team in rebounding at 7.4 rebounds per game. Nicole McDermott (11.8), Giana Michels (11.0), Taylor Haase (10.4), Tina Ubl (10.3) all finished the regular season scoring in double figures with McDermott, Michels, and Ubl mainstays in the starting lineup while Haase is the first woman of the bench for the Pride.

All five of those members of the Pride along with senior guard Skylar Culbertson earned All-Conference honors from the Heart as the total of six All-Conference selections is the most for any women's basketball program in the Heart this season.

"The things that have separated this team from teams past is their attention to detail and the work they put in on their own time," Boyd said. "They also play for each other. They want each of their teammates to succeed and that says more than knocking down a shot or grabbing a rebound. We rely a lot on chemistry in our program and that is a strength of this group."

"What stands out about this group we have this year is not only their chemistry on and off the floor but the amount of personal investment each one of us has in one another," Hocking said. "As a coaching staff, we put a big emphasis on academic success, relationships, and player development. Those staples along with the chemistry our team has on the floor are, in my opinion, big reasons why we are successful."

Hocking's Assistant Coach of the Year selection ends up being shared with Benedictine College's Andi Connelly as both earn Co-Assistant Coach of the Year. Starting this season, the Heart and its basketball coaches decided to honor the hard work put forward on and off the floor by assistant coaches throughout the season.

In his role with Pride women's basketball, Hocking does a large amount of opponent film study and scouting on a game-to-game basis along with assisting with the team's recruiting efforts and running the program's varsity reserve team as their head coach over a 13-game schedule from November to February.

"Adam wears a lot of hats outside of practice time and game days," Boyd said. "With him fulfilling the duties he does, as a staff we are able to spread out other responsibilities so we can continue our success as a program. Adam's commitment to day-to-day things 'assists' with keeping this program on the rise."

Along with his work as the only full-time assistant on the women's basketball staff, Hocking also balances his work as the head coach for the men's golf program during their fall and spring seasons that keeps him plenty busy throughout the year.

"I'd like to give a lot of recognition to our other two assistant coaches in Dale Linderwell and Carrie Kennedy," Hocking said. "They are both tireless workers and are a huge part of our program's success."

"The thing people don't understand is when teams have success, that does not happen solely because of any one or two coaches," Boyd said. "It takes a full staff and the work our staff puts in on and off the court helps get this team where they need to be. 'Coach of the Year' is a behind the scenes award and as a staff we made it happen."

Postseason play will begin for Clarke women's basketball this Thursday when they host Evangel University in the Heart Tournament Quarterfinals at the Kehl Center for a 6:00 p.m. scheduled tip.