This year, men’s Head Basketball Coach Robert Corn and his team surprised some people.

Corn was named MIAA Coach of the Year after leading a team that was picked to finish last to a fourth seed in the MIAA Postseason Tournament.

“I think anytime you receive an honor like that it’s a reflection of the players themselves and the coaching staff,” Corn said. “I think the credit needs to go to those guys.

“Anytime you win something like that, it’s more of a team award than an individual award and that’s the attitude we’ve always had.”

Southern Director of Athletics, Sallie Beard, says Corn and his team are deserving of the credit.

“Robert Corn is a Missouri Southern product and he is a great ambassador and representative of Missouri Southern,” Beard said. “There is no question that he bleeds green and gold.”

Raised in a “sports conscious family,” Corn has been involved in sports most of his life. In high school, he participated in football, basketball and track.

Once he reached college, he decided to focus his effort solely on basketball.

Corn graduated from Missouri Southern with a degree in HPER (health, physical education and recreation), but he had no desire to leave once his diploma was in hand.

“Missouri Southern’s a very special place,” he said. “Joplin is a really good community to raise a family and Missouri Southern is a really good place to work.

“There’s a lot of good people here and we’ve just felt very comfortable as a family in the community and I’ve felt very comfortable in my position at Southern.”

After 19 years of coaching at Southern, Corn has not lost his love for the job.

“You’re doing something that you really enjoy and have a true love for,” Corn said. “Anytime you do that, it’s not like a job.

“You look forward to going to work; you look forward to going to practice each and every day. So, with that, there’s a lot of rewards in this profession.”

The most gratifying aspect of coaching is seeing development in the players, Corn said.

“To me, it’s rewarding to see kids come into your program and then they walk out as young men,” he said. “Then they go out and do a lot of positive things in their communitie

“We’ve had a lot of players who have gone on and become very special people.”

The appreciative relationship Corn expresses for his players is not one-sided.

“I’ve played under Coach Corn for 4 years, so I’ve got a pretty good feel for what kind of coach and person he is,” said Tyler Ryerson, senior guard and physical education major. “On the court when he gets fired up and rips his jacket off is a long way from Coach Corn off the court.

“He’s very mild and just a genuine and nice man. When he says he’ll do anything to help you out he means it, and he wouldn’t say it if he didn’t.”

When he retires, Corn looks forward to playing golf, fishing and hunting. However, he has no plans of leaving Southern anytime soon.

“Retirement is several years away yet, so I have to put it on the back burner for now,” he said.