Daviess County’s Neil Hayden was named as the 2024 Region 3 Coach of the Year. Under Hayden, the Panthers finished the regular season with a record of 23-6 and played in their first district championship since 2017. They will continue their postseason in the regional tournament on March 7 against Butler County.
Hayden has been coaching for about 24 years. He’s been in the region for most of his career as he has coached at McLean County, Apollo, Owensboro Catholic, and is in his 9th year at DCHS. Winning the Coach of the Year Award was rewarding for Hayden as it reflects not only the team’s success, but the time and effort put in by the staff.
“I think it displays a lot because there’s so much that is involved on the staff’s side of things,” he said. “I think anytime a coach wins this it means they’ve got a collection of good players that they can coach who put them in that kind of position. It’s rewarding in the fact that it’s a lot of time for all of us that are coaching and even our families. It’s a good feeling.”
Last year the Panthers finished with an overall record of 13-15. A contributing factor to this result was the number of injuries the team suffered, Hayden said. One of the team’s top players could not play a single game due to a broken foot he sustained during the football season. Their starting point guard also sustained a broken hand during the Panther’s third game of the season. This created problems in setting consistent lineups and roles for the team, Hayden said.
“We dealt with a lot of injuries last year,” he said. “Last year was a very trying year as far as figuring out lineups, figuring out roles and how to win with guys in and out of the lineup. Then coming back and trying to finish the year, we had our point guard for the last two or three games. I really think we would’ve been pushing that envelope of 20 wins. We just dealt with so much. We were missing two of our top guys last year, so that would be hard to recover from for anybody.”
The Panthers this time around have been fortunate enough to stay consistent and healthy in order to perform well throughout the season, Hayden said.
“This year has been the opposite,” he said. “I think we’ve had the starting lineup every game but two times, and one of those was because we had a kid with an illness. There’s been consistency to players’ roles. This year it’s been in terms of us being consistent and healthy. That part has been good, and I think you’ve seen that from us as far as developing and putting out a good display throughout the season.”
With the team staying healthy, Daviess County have had multiple talents at their disposal that have contributed on both sides of the floor. When it comes to rebounding, they have DeAaron Watkins who averages 6.5 rebounds per game and Ayden Ayer along Gage Phelps who both average close to 4 per game. The depth the Panthers have when it comes to scoring has been one of their strongest attributes this season, however. There are four players who all average about 10 points or more a game for DCHS. Jonathan Moss averages 16.7, Phelps averages 15.7, Watkins averages 12.6 and Jaxon Brown averages 9.7. Hayden said this depth is big for the team because it allows them to play with more freedom knowing they can trust multiple players to make a big play.
“I think it’s big because even Ayden Ayer averages about 9 points a game, so we’ve got four guys with double figures and one that’s pushing it,” he said. “That’s something we’ve really wanted to preach was balance. I know a lot of people focus on Jonathan, but we trust our other guys to be able to make plays and make decisions. It allows us to play free and stretch defense out. It’s a huge part, especially as we go forward, that we’ve got more than one guy that someone has to focus on.”
With the team having reached their first district championship since 2017, this also means this is the first time since then that they have made it to the regional tournament. The last time they competed in regionals they advanced to the championship game where they narrowly lost 52-50 against Meade County. They have since struggled to make it back to the regional stage with multiple close defeats in the first round of district. This is all but history for Hayden at this point, and this year’s team has their own identity and confidence that they’ll be bringing to the regional tournament, he said.
“I think each season has its own identity,” he said. “In the past we’ve unfortunately lost a couple district games in the final seconds like we did Friday night. Unfortunately some of them were in the first round. Regardless of that, this team is their own team. They have their own confidence. This has been a mark we’ve been looking at getting to this year is getting in and giving ourselves a chance to get to Rupp. In 20017 we got to the regional final, but honestly the past is in the past and it doesn’t impact this group. They’ve got their own identity separate from past teams.”
Daviess County will face off against Butler County for their first-round game on March 7, at 6 p.m. at the Sportscenter. Hayden said Butler is similar to them in that they also have a variety of players they can look to for scoring. If they are hoping to advance to the next round, they will have to adjust accordingly, he said.
“They’ve got guys that can score as well,” he said. “They’re putting up almost 80 points a game, and they’ve got multiple guys that are better players in the region, but they’ve got others who can score. They can shoot. I think they have four guys that shoot above 30% from three, so we know we’ll have to contest shots, rebound, value possession and figure out how to get some big stops throughout the game because they can score.”
