Conner stayed within their own district to bring in the next leader of the boys basketball program.
The administration has decided to hire Nathan Browning to be at the helm of the Cougars program. Browning comes over from Boone County, where he spent the last five seasons as the Rebels head coach. Browning is coming off a 2023-24 season in which he won 9th Region KABC Coach of the Year with the Rebels going 18-10, their most amount of wins in a season since the 2014-15 season.
“First off, Nathan cares about his players and you can just tell,” Conner Athletic Director James Hicks said. “He has their respect, has a passion for the game, wants them to grow up to be great young men and leads by example. He has a great family life and you can tell he’s an outstanding man.”
Browning replaces Matthew Otte, who stepped down after the season after guiding the program for the last eight seasons. He’ll inherit a team coming off a 11-17 season that graduates four seniors, but returns four starters. Otte leaves some tough shoes to fill, having won 131 games in his tenure, three district titles, making a region final and KABC Coach of the Year twice.
“If you look at his (Browning) record, it’s not always the best record, but he always has his players ready to play, especially tourney time,” Hicks said. “He doesn’t always have a great deal of talent, but it’s a team you don’t want to face come tournament time. He’ll have big shoes to fill, Otte did an outstanding job.”
Browning is a Boone County graduate and also coached the Rebels boys soccer program, leading them to the state tournament semifinals in 2012. He also coached basketball at Ockerman Middle School, guiding the eighth grade team to a 103-20 record and three district crowns. He spent 16 years coaching before landing his first varsity basketball head coaching job, 10 as a middle school coach and three years apiece as a freshman and junior varsity coach.
“Some people come in and whether it’s luck or show themselves, they get an opportunity to get a varsity job within a year or two. With me, I coached for 16 years before my first varsity opportunity,” Browning said. “I know what it takes at each level. Being able to see all that and experience every single one of those levels it really makes me appreciate the job and opportunity given. Part of my background is I worked my butt off to get here. I respect the job and it took a ton of hard work and determination.”
Browning currently teaches at Conner Middle School and lives in Hebron. While he’s a Boone County graduate, played at Boone County and his parents and siblings graduated from there, the proximity of where he currently is certainly helped with his new destination.
“While it was a tough decision, I’m 50 yards away from the high school as opposed to driving 25 minutes to Boone everyday,” Browning said. “I’ll save some time there and my kids are going through the school system. Conner has a lot of great, young talented kids and a great administration.”
He plans to get the team in the gym as much as possible the next couple of months before the 2024-25 season begins in October.
“Other than coaching against them, they don’t know me, so the plan is to get in the gym, get to work, let them see how I operate and lay out expectations,” Browning said. “We’re already signed up for some summer camps and play at a few different showcases. We’ll do some skill work, open gyms and get to work as soon as possible.”