After a long and successful career as a high school basketball coach in the Ozarks, Denny Hunt is entering his fourth season as a Drury assistant coach when the Panthers tip it off in 2012-13.
The Panthers are 63-26 in the three seasons Hunt has spent on the bench as an aide to DU head coach Steve Hesser, including a trip to the NCAA-II Midwest Regional semifinals in 2010-11 to cap a 23-8 season in which DU also captured a second straight Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division title.
In his first season on the DU bench after a long and illustrious career as a high school coach in the Ozarks, the Panthers produced a 23-7 final record that included a GLVC West title and a fourth NCAA-II Tournament appearance in the past five years.
Hunt - presented with the Gary Filbert Lifetime Achievement Award by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association this spring - is one of the most respected basketball minds in the Ozarks after compiling a 353-259 record as a head coach during stints at Hartville, Republic and Central high schools before joining the staff as an assistant with the highly successful Kickapoo Chiefs program from 1998-2008.
In his time with the Chiefs, his junior varsity squads compiled a record 183-19, and while serving as coach Roy Green's top assistant, the varsity Chiefs went 245-46, won 10 Ozark Conference championships and seven district titles and made three Class 5 final four appearances, including a state crown in 2003.
Hunt also has been very active in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, serving as president in 1998, as a board member from 1989-2009 and as co-director of the Hall of Fame Games from 1993-2008. He received his undergraduate degree from Southwest Missouri State University before completing his Masters in Education at Drury in 1988.
Hunt and wife Patty reside in Springfield and have two daughters - Samantha and Alexandra.
