Linc Darner joined the High Point Men’s Basketball coahing staff, prior to the 2022-23 season.
Most recently, Darner spent the 2021-22 season as an associate head coach at Ball State University where he helped the Cardinals to a Mid-America Conference Tournament appearance. Two players garnered all-conference honors while Payton Sparks was named the league’s freshman of the year.
Prior to his time with the Cardinals, Darner was the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay from 2015-20. In that time, Darner posted a 92-80 (53%) overall record while going 51-39 (57%) in the Horizon League. The Phoenix qualified for the Horizon League Tournament three out of the five seasons under Darner’s lead, including a tournament championship in 2016 that qualified the team for the NCAA Tournament. While at UW-Green Bay, seven Phoenix earned All-League honors, four players were named to the All-Defensive team, one earned the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award, and one was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Year.
Before Green Bay, Darner was the head coach at Florida Southern College from the 2006-2015 seasons, where he finished as the 2015 NCAA Division II National Champion, the NABC National Coach of the Year, and the Basketball Times & Division II Bulletin National Coach of the Year. Before being crowned as the National Champions, Darner led the Mocs to eight consecutive NCAA Tournament Regionals, six Sunshine State Conference Championships, and six Sunshine State Conference Tournament Championships while also being named the league’s Coach of the Year six times.
Darner spent the 2002-06 seasons at St. Joseph’s College as the head coach, posting a 74-45 (62%) overall record as the program was the 2005-06 Great Lakes Valley regular season and conference tournament champions, earning a school-record 31 wins.
Other coaching stops in Darner’s journey include Ashland University, Lincoln Memorial, and Murray State.
Darner graduated from Purdue with a bachelor’s degree in management in 1995 while playing four seasons for the Boilermakers from 1990-94. He was Purdue’s first two-time team captain from 1992-94 and helped lead the Boilermakers to a Big Ten regular season championship in 1994. Purdue qualified for the NCAA Tournament three out of Darner’s four seasons and made the Elite Eight in 1994.
