WKU men’s basketball has announced its finalized coaching staff for the upcoming 2024-25 season, as made official by head coach Hank Plona on Friday.
Plona’s assistant coaches will include a pair of returnees from last year’s staff, both with Logan County ties. They are Tim MacAllister, a Logan County High School graduate who has coached in the national championship game, and Martin Cross, the nephew of former Russellville newspaperman Al Cross who has been involved with WKU basketball almost half of his life.
Hilltopper Basketball will enter the 2024-25 season coming off a highly successful 2023-24 campaign that saw the Tops secure the Conference USA Tournament title and earn an automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Entering his first season as head coach on The Hill, Plona served as an assistant for the Tops a season ago and proved vital to the Hilltoppers’ success on the court.
Plona spent eight seasons as head coach at Indian Hills CC in Iowa. During his eight-year tenure, Plona coached the Warriors to a 225-35 (.865%) record while qualifying for the NJCAA National Tournament in seven of those seasons.
Plona has expressed trust and confidence in the team’s core of coaches and staff members entering the 2024-25 campaign.
“I am very excited about the staff that we’ve put together for this season,” Plona said. “I have prior working experience and coaching experience with each and every person on our staff. I know and trust their abilities, their strengths, and most importantly their character, and know that we have a staff that is full of leaders and role models for our student-athletes.”
Josh Newman joins the Hilltopper Basketball staff as an assistant for the 2024-25 season following a stint at University of the Pacific. Newman brings a total of 26 years of coaching experience to The Hill.
“I worked for Josh 15 years ago and he has been a mentor and friend ever since,” said Plona. “His 15 years of head coaching experience are valuable on a day-to-day basis to our program.”
While at Pacific, Newman served as an assistant for the Tigers in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons before being elevated to associate head coach in November of 2023. Newman was promoted to interim head coach prior to the 2024 West Coast Conference Tournament.
Prior to joining the staff at Pacific, Newman served as head coach at Division II Texas Permian Basin for three seasons and spent 12 seasons as head coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith. While at UAFS, Newman was instrumental in transitioning the program from the junior college level to NCAA Division II. During his nine seasons at the Division II level with UAFS, Newman guided the Lions to a 168-96 overall record while winning five Heartland Conference Championships and one Heartland Conference Tournament Championship.
Eric Murphy enters his first year as an assistant for the Hilltopper Basketball program. Murphy joins Plona's staff after serving as head coach at Florida Southwestern State College for six seasons. During his tenure, Murphy posted a 143-34 overall record (.829 winning percentage) while winning three Suncoast Conference Championships along with two NJCAA National Tournament bids.
“Eric and I have been friends and colleagues through coaching for many years,” Plona said. “He is an elite basketball coach.”
Murphy also served as an assistant at Northern Colorado, Wabash Valley College and Vincennes University prior to his tenure with Florida Southwestern.
Martin Cross and Tim MacAllister remain on the Hill as assistants with the program.
Cross is entering a tenth season with the WKU men's basketball staff and third as an assistant coach. MacAllister enters his second season on the Hill and his sixth total as an assistant coach.
Darryl Jackson rejoins the Tops’ staff as an assistant coach while also taking on a new role in operations. The Detroit native will continue to oversee the program's academics and player development throughout the season.
Wyatt Battaile enters the 2024-25 season after serving as a graduate assistant for the program in 2023-24. Taking on a new full-time role as an assistant coach and in operations, Battaile was promoted to Director of Player Development and Video and will oversee daily operations as well as video needs for the program.
“Martin, Tim, Darryl and Wyatt were all important parts of our NCAA Tournament season, and they continue to help create winning culture on and off the court every day,” Plona said. “I am happy and fortunate that they chose to continue to move forward with us and can’t wait to build off of last year.”
WKU also adds two new graduate assistants for the season in Henoc Bienne and Devontae Lane.
Bienne joins Plona's staff after serving as a graduate assistant at Indian Hills CC and Iowa State. Lane joins the Hill after a successful basketball career with Indian Hills CC and Central Michigan University.
“Henoc coached with me at Indian Hills and Devontae was a 2-year starting point guard for us,” Plona said. “They are champions who will add to our winning culture and help develop our players as people and players.”
Hilltopper Basketball prepares to open the 2024-25 season in November. More information on the team's slate of competition will be announced at a later date.