• Castleberry enters his third season on the VMI bench,
assisting in various facets of the program including recruiting,
scheduling and player development.
• Prior to returning to his alma mater, he served as an
assistant coach at Tennessee-Martin, mentoring All-American
Honorable Mention and current Washington Wizard, Lester Hudson.
• While at VMI, Castleberry was a three-year letterman,
two-year starter, team captain and recipient of the Spirit of VMI
Award" for his leadership, toughness and hustle.
NCDS: Jack Castleberry, Asst. Coach - VMI
As I write this month’s diary entry the Keydets have an overall record of 15-12, 8-8 in conference play. We’ve battled injuries all season but have finally gotten healthy. We lost two games on a recent road trip, one to Charleston Southern, and one to Coastal Carolina which until recently had the nation’s longest winning streak at 22 games. We then returned to Lexington to take on High Point University, Radford University and Liberty University. Our guys played extremely hard and showed improvement defensively, leading to three big conference victories. We dropped a tough non-conference clash on the road to a stingy Morgan State team, but look to rebound this week.
Recently we also had the privilege of celebrating the career of our lone senior, Austin Kenon. Coming out of high school the only Division I scholarship offer Austin had was from VMI. He’s a prime example that just because no one else is recruiting a kid, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be. From First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, VA, Austin has had a phenomenal career in a Keydet uniform. He can be found in many different locations in the VMI record books as he is currently 6th all-time in scoring, 9th all-time in scoring average, 9th all-time in free throw percentage and 6th all-time in three point percentage. He holds the record for three pointers made in a season when he knocked down 119 during his sophomore campaign and has made more threes than any other cadet to ever march guard in Lexington. He’s been on a team that beat Kentucky, went to a Big South Championship Game, and won 24 games in a season, the second best single season record in the history of the school, and has been a two-year team captain.
Above all else, Austin is a great person with a great work ethic. He has become a solid student after struggling as a freshman to adjust to the demands of VMI. He plays the game as hard as anyone I’ve ever coached, and is a stellar cadet that is widely respected around post. He’s been a great role model to our younger players, and it’s been a privilege to coach him during my three seasons at VMI.
With one week left in the regular season we will spend most of it on the road. We travel to South Carolina to face Presbyterian and Winthrop, where both of those teams would like to keep the score low and make you play a knock-down, drag-out style of basketball. It will be a challenge to play the game at the speed we’d like to play, and I’m looking forward to seeing if we can continue to play with the defensive intensity we have over the last few games.
This time of year is extremely exciting. This is when you want to see your team click and play the type of basketball you’ve been hoping to see them play all season. Everyone is playing for seeding in their conference tournament, which is particularly important in ours as the first 4 teams host a first round game. We are currently battling for a top 4 spot. A tournament game in Cameron Hall would be a huge advantage. We have some of the best fans in the league.
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