Year in Review: Year One of the Charlie Henry Era

When you take over as head coach of a men's basketball program, it can be challenging at the start to ingrain your culture and coaching style to a brand-new roster and staff, and Georgia Southern head coach Charlie Henry learned that firsthand following a 9-24 campaign in his first season at the helm.

Building a non-conference schedule that featured the likes of Michigan State, Tennessee and Georgia Tech, and spending the first month of the season on the road, it can be tough to get continuity and solid performance, which Henry admitted affected the team early on.

"We lost some games at the beginning of the year that I think we win if we played them again later in the season," he said. "We did not start the year off playing well at all. Some of it basketball, some of it not basketball, whether it was the culture shift or adjusting to my voice and how I coach. The beginning of the year was disappointing. Once December and January rolled around, there was nothing we could do about it. We just had to get better."

Managing a 12-game losing streak as head coach can be tough, but for Henry and his staff, it was about finding the silver linings and pushing the team with the notion that they weren't far off. The team had some close losses as December rolled around, such as a two-point loss at home to Jacksonville, an eight-point loss where the teams went back-and-forth all game at North Florida, or a home loss against UNCW that saw the team go shot-for-shot with the Seahawks late. The message never changed despite the results.

"The things that you have stressed all season that are important, you have to continue to do that," Henry said. "Maybe you show the team examples of [little things] we're not doing that hurt us, but you have to keep your message consistent. When a team is playing well, you can challenge them to not be complacent, but when a team is not playing well, you can challenge them to be better while also finding tangible evidence of good performance or consistency."

When conference play begins, a unique opportunity for teams to get a clean slate arises as everyone in the conference is 0-0. The Eagles seemed to take that to heart, dominating defending regular-season champion Southern Miss in an 88-67 win.

The team went 5-4 in the first nine conference games, including big wins against ULM and Georgia State. Henry credits the emergence of players and some getting healthy.

"[Eugene Brown III] wasn't available during conference play, and him coming back gave us a good veteran presence with his maturity and two-way game," he said. "Tyren Moore's ascension to a bonafide number-one option and his ability to create offense for us was a big part of it too, and Eren Banks solidifying the point guard position, which we didn't have during non-conference play, I thought he did a good job with that as a freshman. Also, Avantae Parker found a really good synergy with the guards. He was important in getting our offense organized and had a specific role in getting the offense going."

Henry also pointed to the bounce-back against Georgia State as a real turning point for the group, bouncing back from a 28-point loss in Atlanta to earn a 16-point, near-wire-to-wire win.

The team experienced a lull in February after beating Old Dominion to end January. Having to battle top conference teams such as James Madison, Troy and Appalachian State, the team went on a six-game winless streak, but the compete level remained, falling by single digits in all four games against the Dukes and Mountaineers.

Nothing changed specifically for the team in those games, but the staff noted a heightened sense of urgency on the roster against those teams, where the Eagles may not have won, but made the Sun Belt titans uncomfortable.

Heading into the conference tournament, the team won three of four games, one of its best stretches of the season. Moore earned Sun Belt Player of the Week after the last two games as GS had a ton of momentum, earning the nine seed and a matchup with South Alabama.

After having a big lead for most of that first game, the Eagles staved off a late Jags run thanks to a clutch step-back three by Malik Tidwell. Henry was pleased with the win, especially after the team dominated South Alabama on the glass.

"I thought [that win] gave our guys a taste of March Madness," he said. "It was great to see Malik get some coverage after the game too, especially that shot. That win got the guys believing heading into the App game."

Despite trailing by 10 at the half and as much as 14 in the game, the Eagles mounted a furious comeback against the league-leading Mountaineers. Moore put the team on his back with 36, and the team got crucial stops down the stretch but ran out of gas in overtime as its season closed with a heartbreaking 85-80 loss.

"Flipping our close game results is going to be another huge rallying cry and theme for us moving into year two," he said. "We need to build on some of those lessons learned. If we could flip our record in close games and make those game-winning plays that come in many different ways, that could be huge for us next season."

Henry wanted to see how that loss would fuel returning players in the offseason, as the run gave the team a taste of what it could do during tournament time.

With the anticipation of a solid returning cast next season, Henry and his staff have a plan of attack for molding the roster as it heads into the 2024-25 season.

"The message has been that we want to add talent, but talent alone is not the answer. We want culture fit," he said. "We're looking at their character on the court and off the court. We want guys who just love basketball. Those are the guys that I relate to because that's how I am, guys who want to be in the gym. Guys that have had success not only individually but teams as well, and guys who are good teammates. We're looking at a few pieces to add to this nucleus, one that can compete at the top of the league and for the Sun Belt championship."

Now that his first season at Georgia Southern is in the rearview mirror, Henry learned a few lessons going through the grind of a college campaign as the head man.

"There are a few lessons that I took away from this season. Some of them are the small things, like what strategies other teams use to disrupt us that don't let us flow on offense," he said. "Little things like that where we have to be better next season, like rebounding or defending without fouling. One statement that I'll double down on is controlling the controllable, such as when we lose the game, it isn't because of the officials. There are hundreds of small things that can affect a game. You can always make schematic changes in basketball, but for me, it's doubling down on the things you believe in."

Georgia Southern heads into the 2024-25 season with an opportunity to open up a new arena, closing the doors on the basketball era at Hanner Fieldhouse after 55 years. Henry anticipates a few more home games at Hanner before transitioning to the Convocation Center, but the organization's excitement for the next season is immeasurable.

"We're opening the year with the MAC challenge game at home, we don't know who that opponent will be, as that will be announced later, but we know our first game next year will be a home game," Henry said. "That's awesome for us. I know it's been talked about that there's a chance we might have to play a couple of games in Hanner, which is also exciting. I toured the new arena for the first time this weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised by the progress, so we will see how that goes."

Following a year that saw the all-time three-pointers and free-throw percentage records fall, Henry and co. hope to take another leap in the summer and gear up for a big season in 2024-25.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Eren Banks

Eugene Brown III

Tyren Moore

Avantae Parker

Malik Tidwell

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