As the school year kicks into gear, sports are in full swing. Head coach Jon Havens is coming into the 2023-2024 basketball season with five regular season conference championships, as well as four national tournament appearances in his nine-year coaching stint at the Richland Campus of Dallas College.

Havens has run a very successful work-driven program and has had seven of his players go on to play at the Division I level. Before the start of the season, Havens sat down with the Chronicle to talk about everything from his expectations for his team this season to his main principles as a coach.

The Thunderducks are having to start fresh this season after losing some players to the transfer portal and graduation. However, Havens is confident in his team’s abilities as well as his strong recruiting class. When asked about how he plans on adjusting to this new roster he said, “You really hope the ones that come back help the new guys, on and off the court. However, in practice if you’ve got the right group of guys, they will pick it up pretty quickly.”

Havens has spent a very large part of his life surrounded by basketball. His father was a high school coach for 40 years, and he spent time as a four-year starter for the UTSA Roadrunners in San Antonio. Being a college athlete requires lots of focus and discipline. Havens said the five rules that he makes sure to instill into his players are, “Don’t embarrass yourself. Don’t embarrass your family. Don’t embarrass your team. Don’t embarrass your school and be on time.”

Any outsider looking in might think that this is a pretty short list of rules. However, Havens said, “If they are doing all five of those things, then they are probably acting like responsible young men.”

Richland students, of course, are hoping for a spectacular season from the men’s basketball team under Havens’ leadership.