5/1/2023 basketball Edit

Hank Plona to join WKU as an Assistant Coach

WKU's new assistant coach Hank Plona (Photo Credit: Ottumwa Courier) (Scott Jackson/The Courier)

Drew Toennies • InsideHilltopperSports

Staff Writer

WKU head coach Steve Lutz and company announced the addition of a new member to the Hilltoppers' coaching staff on Monday morning, revealing the hiring of Indian Hills Community College head coach Hank Plona to the staff.

Plona will be joining the Hilltoppers' basketball program as an assistant coach for the 2023-24 season.

"Hank is bringing an incredible amount of experience to our staff. He is the consummate professional and is a man of integrity. He is tremendous at building and maintaining relationships with people and is a very good basketball coach. We are excited to have him join us on The Hill."

— Steve Lutz

In eight seasons at Indian Hills Community College, Plona helped lead the Warriors to a 225-35 (.865) overall record, ensuring his team qualified for the NJCAA National Tournament in seven out of eight seasons.

Plona additionally led the Warriors to eight-straight ICCAC regular-season titles, six postseason conference titles and four district championships.

"I'd like to thank Coach Lutz for the opportunity to join him and his staff at Western Kentucky. There's great basketball tradition at WKU and I am looking forward to continuing that legacy."

— Hank Plona

During his time at Indian Hills Community College, Plona coached 11 All-Americans alongside 36 all-region performers. A total of 58 of players he's coached have moved on from the JUCO circuit to play D1 basketball. Nearly 20 of his players have gone on to play professional basketball in different parts of the world.

Plona has also been a notable factor in delivering a few players to the highest level of D1 basketball over the last few seasons. Among those players were Tomas Woldetensae (Virginia) and Tylon Grant-Foster (Kansas).

Prior to becoming the head coach at Indian Hills Community College, Plona served as an assistant coach at South Plains College in Levelland, TX. for four seasons. The team appeared in three national tournaments in fours seasons, winning the national title in the 2012 stint with a flawless record.

Before being named the next head coach of Indian Hills, Plona's team secured their spot in the championship game in the 2015 season.

Plona also served as an assistant coach at Indian Hills Community College for one season (2010-11) and was an assistant coach at Arkansas Fort-Smith (2009-10).

The native of Avon, CT. was also a student manager and graduate assistant at Providence College under Tim Welsh and Keno Davis.

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