There still is no official announcement coming from Barton Community College regarding the hiring of new women’s head basketball coach Darin Spence.
The Barton trustees approved the budget for this year during a meeting on Thursday, but there was no mention of Spence.
Although BCC isn’t commenting beyond the fact that former head coach Keith Ferguson has resigned, Spence says himself that he’s already been hired.
The former New Mexico State University head coach, who resigned from his Aggies post in March, made a number of tweets on his Twitter account — HoopCoachSpence — on Wednesday, referencing the fact that he was coming back to the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.
Spence, who coached a total of 11 years at Cowley and Butler County with enormous success, compiled a 288-73 mark in the Jayhawk Conference, prior to taking the NCAA Division I post in Las Cruces, N.M.
The 49-year-old Spence, who has even gone as far as posting Barton CC; Great Bend, KS, on his profile picture on Twitter, was reached on his cell phone as he was driving from Topeka to Salina on Interstate 70 on Thursday evening.
“Like anybody, I worked really hard and wanted to climb as a professional and Division I was a goal and I reached it,” Spence said. “While I was there, I finished second all-time for wins (posting a 109-136 record).
“We played in three (Western Athletic Conference) championship games and went to the postseason once and only the fourth time in our school’s history. We did a lot of good things, and we had to build a program. Building is something that I do.”
A benchmark victory for Spence includes the Aggies beating No. 21 Kansas, 61-60, on Jan. 3, 2010, to mark the NMSU’s third win over a ranked team in program history.
The upset of the Jayhawks came on the five-year anniversary of the last time New Mexico State knocked off a ranked team, when the Aggies upended No. 22 Houston under Spence.
A native of Escondido, Calif., Spence and his wife, Andre’, have four kids ­— Sierra, Madison, Sacia and Drake.
Madison was a starting guard and four-year player for the Aggies under her father, using up her eligibility in 2010-11.