Character, diligence emphasized in latest SEMO basketball hire

If you speak to any of the employees within the Southeast Missouri State athletic department regarding its hiring process, the first thing that is mentioned is the quality of people.

If an administrator, coach, or student-athlete is questionable from a character perspective, the likelihood of them landing in Cape Girardeau isn’t great.

“You win with (quality) people,” 10th-year Redhawk football coach Tom Matukewicz has stated often.

And fourth-year SEMO men’s basketball coach Brad Korn learned that lesson from day one.

“I’ve talked about it a lot,” Korn said recently on the topic, “with the people we recruit, with the people that we bring into this program, you have to be a great person.”

That was his emphasis when he hired LaDon Champagnie as the Director of Operations two years ago and he continued in that regard as Korn promoted Champagnie recently to the all-so-important position of full-time assistant coach.

“That may sound high schoolish or soft or whatever the case may be,” Korn said of emphasizing character, but LaDon is an excellent human being. He’s a great father and a great husband.”

In the too-often world of squeamishness that envelops much of college athletics, Korn’s philosophy sounds comforting, is how it sounds.

Not only does Korn emphasize character, but it is clear in studying his coaching hires, both past and present, that he values diligence in the profession.

Some guys have been born with a silver coaching spoon in their mouths, but Champagnie, as well as Korn, and the other Redhawk assistant coaches (J.R. Reynolds and Conner Wheeler) have had to serve themselves at the coaching buffet line.

Hell, they also had to go back to the kitchen and do the cooking, as well as stay after and wash the dishes.

Ask Korn sometime about the six homes he lived in during the first 10 years of his coaching career, and in the case of Champagnie, he spent years working the summer circuit with the famed Bradley Beal Elite program, as well as coaching at the high school level (Westminster Christian Academy and Bishop DuBourg High School) before earning an opportunity to work as the Redhawks’ director of operations.

“LaDon wanted an opportunity,” Korn said. “I knew him a little bit before he came here. He has paid his dues, doing the grunt work of operations for two years. He was loyal to us, and he was loyal to me.”

Champagnie is on the road this weekend in Augusta, Georgia at the annual Peach Jam, which attracts the top high school players in the country, and evaluating talent for the future of the SEMO program isn’t his first rodeo in doing so.

During the spring and summer evaluation periods of 2022, Korn lost a pair of assistant coaches (Sam McMahon and Dustin Yoder), and it was Champagnie who stepped up and added to his responsibilities and went out on the road to find players.

“I’m blessed to have this opportunity,” Champagnie said.

Champagnie said that he “learned a lot” during his first two seasons with the Redhawk program, which will benefit him greatly moving forward.

“I got a chance to see how everything works in all facets,” Champagnie said. “It was a great experience. Coach Korn is a former director of operations, so, he has been very understanding and he allowed me to grow, and I am very thankful for that.”

Champagnie, who played at Hancock High School in St. Louis, as well as Missouri Baptist University, said he feels that he has the ability to relate well with the SEMO players, as well as high school and junior college prospects.

Champagnie has played on the summer circuit, at the junior college and four-year levels, and coached on the summer circuit, high school, and college levels. So, there is really no one whom he will encounter that he can’t relate to personally or professionally.

“LaDon has a great personality,” Korn said. “He has an infectious personality. He has worked a lot of (coaching) jobs in the St. Louis area, so losing (former Redhawk assistant coach and St. Louis native) Keith Pickens, I thought that it was important to continue to have those good relationships.”