Otieno piecing together a competitive roster for Horns men’s basketball

By Lethbridge Herald on June 29, 2023.

Herald FILE photo Kenny Otieno speaks after being introduced as the new head coach for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball program in this March 2023 file photo. Otieno has seen many positive changes in the second semester of this season.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Local coach Kenny Otieno is just months away now from his first season on the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball bench as head coach, and his offseason has been good so far despite all the responsibilities he has.

“It’s been good, honestly,” said Otieno.

“It’s been a lot being kind of  thrown at me in terms of trying to manage all the recruiting that we already kind of started and on the admin side of things. Like planning all our road trips for the whole season for regular season and then booking preseason trips as well, so that we can compete before we get into the regular season, and then try and make it fit all within a budget that we’re trying to hold for our team. And among other things, it’s been challenging, but at the same time it’s been a fun journey so far. This everything I kind of wanted to do and a lot of it is expected but lot of it is new. I’m learning a lot and enjoying it.”

Otieno feels as though recruiting is a never ending process.

“Because you’re always on the lookout for talent that could help  the team somehow,” said Otieno.

“Even though we’re getting closer to the start of preseason (and) even though I feel we have a complete roster, I’m always looking for talent that can help us get over the edge even more. But I feel like the recruiting has been pretty good far. We’ve added a couple pieces that I feel like will help us in the long run, and especially with losing a couple of really, really big pieces. Especially with Jeff (Rodehutskors )being our main guy down in the post and also with Alec (Hillman) being a presence down there, (and) losing those two big guys, I was definitely trying to get some size. So that we can have some rim protection and also just have that pick and roll game that obviously is a staple in this league.”

The Horns were able to pick up local high recruits in Raymond’s Brady Baines in a transfer from Lethbridge College.

“He’s a local guy that I felt like he’s going to really help us, especially with losing a couple of guys like Tag (Layton) who had a great rookie year,” said Otieno.

“That’s another rookie that came in (last) year and I felt like really showed who he is and what he can be in this league moving forward and I’m excited to have him back when he gets back from his mission. But yeah I think there’s a lot of other pieces that we got. We got another transfer from Red Deer College that brings some more size and a couple others guys from Edge School, a prep school here in Calgary ,that also bring good size and another guy from Edmonton who was actually our first guy that we saw in Joe Lemieux.”

Having grown up in Lethbridge, Otieno knows how strong the basketball scene is in southern Alberta.

“Yeah, no, I definitely know how strong basketball is in southern Alberta in terms of the influence that it has with so many different clubs and programs, separate from the university,” he said.

“So I’m excited to hopefully connect with a lot of these clubs and involve the university and the community to a bigger extent than we have been the last couple of years. But like growing up in southern Alberta and playing basketball in that community, I know how much they love their basketball and I’m excited to be a big part of that being the position that I am in.”

Otieno’s main goal is to create an environment where the players feel that they want to play for the team.

“And also succeed while being there on and off the court,” he said.

“Obviously the goal is always to win, that expectation will never change from my last couple of years being there. But I just want to try and build a culture where it’s a positive reinforcement with all the guys and everyone’s on the same page trying to achieve that one goal of hopefully  trying to win a Canada West championship and if we got lucky, moving on to a national championship, but obviously step by step. But it all starts with like you said, building a certain culture within the team and going from there.”

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