New Indiana head coach Mike Woodson is expected to retain assistant coach Kenya Hunter on his staff, TheHoosier.com confirms. 247Sports had the original report.
Sources told TheHoosier that Hunter had conversations with Louisville and Chris Mack about the openings on his staff.
While Woodson looks to build his staff, it is worth noting that a program can have three full-time assistant coaches on staff.
Hunter just finished his first season at Indiana but has been instrumental in some of the relationships developed between Indiana and class of 2022 recruits.
Since his hire at IU, he has been the lead recruiter for the following offers in the class of 2022:
G- Justice Williams ranked No. 31 (Montverde Academy (Montverde, Florida) / Team Final (PA))
F- Tyrell Ward ranked No. 48 (DeMatha (Potomac, Maryland) / New World (DC))
C- Favour Aire ranked No. 55 (Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Maryland) / New World AAU (MD))
F- Justin Taylor ranked No. 69 (St. Anne's Belfield (Charlottesville, Virginia) / Team Takeover (DC))
G- Rodney Rice ranked No. 77 (DeMatha (Potomac, Maryland) / Team Durant (MD))
G/F- Tyler Nickel ranked No. 91 (East Rockingham (Elkton, Virginia) / Team Loaded (VA))
G/F- Masai Troutman (St. Andrew's Episcopal School (Frederick, Maryland) / Team Takeover (DC))
Hunter was also a huge reason that UT-Martin guard Parker Stewart committed to Indiana last year. Stewart is currently in the transfer portal but is open to retuning to Indiana.
The following is what former Rivals Analyst Corey Evans said of the Hunter hire last year.
"Former UConn assistant Kenya Hunter coached Miller during his travel ball days and was an assistant for Miller's older brother, Sean, at Xavier. Hunter is a tremendous pick-up for the Hoosiers and he should hit the ground running thanks to knowing what his head coach expects from his staff and personnel.
"He is a tremendous recruiter that has done great work along the East Coast and is just as effective as a coach on the court. Hunter brings a different background than the other two Indiana assistant coaches and it feels like this is his final stop as an assistant before he lands his own head coaching gig."
**Below is the initial story after his hiring in September of 2020.
After a few week long search, Indiana found its guy in Kenya Hunter. The former UConn assistant coach will join Indiana's bench this upcoming year and take the place of former assistant Bruiser Flint, who left for Kentucky.
Hunter brings roughly 20 years of experience to Bloomington, with previous stops at Georgetown, Nebraska, Xavier and Duquesne before UConn. Indiana wanted a proven recruiter and that's exactly what it gets with Hunter.
With the loss of Bruiser Flint and a notable east coast recruiter, Hunter joins Mike Roberts as two successful recruiters in the east, something IU was looking for.
Recently, at UConn, Hunter was the lead recruiter with three Rivals150 prospects, including top-50 guard Jordan Hawkins in the class of 2021. Altogether in his two and a half years at UConn, Hunter has contributed to a No. 7 (2021), No. 24 (2020) and No. 44 (2019) overall ranked classes.
Most notably at UConn was Hunter's help in the development of Josh Carlton. Carlton earned the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Most Improved Player award in 2018-19 after improving his scoring by five points, rebounds by over three and blocks by one per game in just one season. Hunter was also instrumental in the development of freshman Akok Akok who averaged 2.6 blocks per game in his first year at UConn.
Before his time at UConn, however, Hunter was best known for helping land some of the most talented players in Georgetown history. Involved in the recruitment of Greg Monroe, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Isaac Copeland, Michael Hopkins and Henry Sims at Georgetown, it helped the Hoyas land multiple top recruiting classes throughout his six years on the Georgetown bench. In those six years, the Hoyas saw Monroe and Henry Sims turn into NBA talent.
Previously, at Nebraska, Hunter was also instrumental in landing four-star top-100 point guard Glenn Watson. Watson went on to be one of the better upperclassmen point guards in the conference as a junior and senior. Hunter won over Watson over programs like Maryland, Marquette, Iowa, Purdue, Tennessee and Florida among others.
Altogether, Hunter has landed a 12 Rivals150 players in his career and has found success with multiple top-50 players as well. It should also be noted that most of these players have been out-of-state, a place that Archie Miller hasn't necessarily had great success in during his young IU tenure.
Overall, Hunter's player development and overall recruiting success is something that will take IU's staff to the next level on the recruiting trail. IU has landed five-star talent in each of Miller's three recruiting classes and now the development of those players becomes the next step. With Hunter, Indiana now has it.
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