Season 4 Episode 7- Featuring Darnell Haney

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Georgetown Women’s basketball head coach Darnell Haney joined me on the show this week! A native of Miami, Florida, he’s a Florida boy through and through. Darnell talked to me about the impact his parents made on his life and the responsibilities they placed on him, and how now as a husband and father, he has enjoyed every moment of having children and being a husband. Growing up in Florida, football was king for a long time due to the culture, but as time passed, his love for basketball grew. Spending a lot of time at outside parks helped develop a mental and physical toughness for Haney at a young age. 

Haney wanted to be an engineer coming out of high school, and attending Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) made the most sense. Haney walked on and learned so many valuable life and learning lessons while being a college student. A true trap music lover, Jeezy, Young Thug, and Rick Ross top Coach Haney’s playlist. 

Getting into the coaching world in 2006, Haney went through several assistant coach and JV head coaching roles but was blessed to take over the Jone’s High School women's team, transforming it into the powerhouse that it is today. Throughout his journey at Jones, a new head coach at Jacksonville University, Yolett-McPhee McCuin connected with Haney. Soon afterwards, McCuin gave a call to Coach Haney, asking him to join her as an assistant coach at Jacksonville University. Soon, Coach Yo would depart for Ole Miss, and in came the first college head coaching opportunity for Haney. 

While at Jacksonville University, Haney developed a relationship with Georgetown WBB head coach Tasha Butts. Years later, Butts needed to hire an assistant coach and called Haney. Without hesitation, Haney accepted and headed up the coast. Learning so much about the aspects of basketball from Coach Butts, Haney developed a renewed love for basketball and for coaching young women. Coach Butts faced a tough battle with breast cancer for two years, and unfortunately ended up passing away in October of 2023. The death left the entire nation of college basketball in mourning, especially Georgetown University. With so much adversity from media outlets, and now the tragic passing of Coach Butts, Coach Haney would become the interim head coach for the women’s team. In the midst of a tough time, Coach Haney broke down barriers by finishing the regular season with the best record since 2010-2011, reaching the first Big East tournament championship game in program history, and leading the team to its first 20 win season in over a decade, despite being picked to finish tenth in preseason rankings.

Coach Haney left me with something very touching: “The best piece of advice I've ever gotten is that I’m a farmer, and every person I meet, I’m dropping seeds. At the proper time, I’m going to receive the harvest. Don’t look for anything to come, just try and help”. Folks, such an inspiring and emotional episode, I hope you enjoyed every moment of this. Sit back, laugh, learn, and mature within this episode. God bless! 

(0:00)- Intro
(1:03)- Coach Haney intro
(2:49)- First year Head Coach experience at Georgetown
(4:14)- Announcement to be permanent Head Coach at Georgetown
(7:00)- Giving Coach Haney his flowers
(7:57)- Growing up in Miami and love for basketball
(27:10)- Family dedication