Gavin Root Always Dreamed of Being a College Head Coach

Gavin Root has quite the legacy to follow at Centre College after being named the interim men’s basketball coach for the 2025-26 season after the retirement of Greg Mason.

Mason was a 1,000-point scorer during his Centre College playing career. He returned to Centre as an assistant coach and had been the head coach the last 26 years and won a school-record 459 games. Mason stepped down to become  Vice President, Regional Business Development Officer for Farmers National Bank in Danville.

Root, 27, served as interim coach for 10 games last season when Mason was out with health issues and Centre went 6-4. He doesn’t have long to get adjusted to his new role as Centre has an exhibition game Oct. 29 at Bellarmine and opens regular-season play Nov. 7 at Asbury. He shared his thoughts on his new role, the upcoming season, Mason and more in a recent interview.

Question: When was the first time you thought you might want to be a college head coach?

Root: “It started really after my freshman year of college that coaching is something I really want to do. I was given the advice to go work hard, so I went to Texas A&M, Maryland, Purdue, Kentucky, Louisville, Western Kentucky, all over, helping work camps. I was blessed with two of the best parents, but my dad didn’t play in the NBA and my mom didn’t  play basketball at Kentucky. I’m just a kid playing Division III sports. I thought, ‘Okay, this is my way to get in and try to make some connections by working camps.’ I did that for three straight summers. There were some grinds.
“I was driving to Maryland, and you’re getting paid a couple 100 bucks for a whole week’s worth of work, and you’ve got to get there and back. I got to Maryland a  day early because I wanted to watch practice and meet the coaches.  I didn’t really have a place to stay, so I asked the coaches if I could stay in the locker room and they let me. I slept in their locker room. That was an early experience where I thought, ‘Okay, you better love it or you don’t, get out.’  I had an opportunity straight out of school to go be a GA (graduate assistant) at Western Kentucky. I knew then what I really want to do for the rest of my life if I have the opportunity to do it.

“I loved my experience there with Rick Stansbury. I worked at their camp for three summers. A year after that, I had an opportunity to go down to Birmingham at UAB and with Andy Kennedy, who is an offensive savant. I  loved working with him, and then I had an opportunity to come back here. And did I think it would come this early or this way for me to be a head coach? Honestly, no, I didn’t. But  as I always say, everybody runs their own race, and God’s timing is, it’s unreal.”

Question: Since your wife, Allie, is a FOX56 news anchor in Lexington, did she help get you to Centre College initially?

Root: “I’m very blessed that my wife is very, very supportive. When we moved to Birmingham, I kind of was the motivation behind that but she found a great spot down in Birmingham with  CBS42 News. When she heard that I had the chance to come back (to Kentucky), we’re an hour from home and family, she was like, ‘Hey, we got to do this.’ I think my first day here was at the end of September. I was up here by myself. She was still living in Birmingham. It was the middle to end of November, because I remember we played Transy here at home, and I got up, drove all the way to Birmingham and helped her move out. When I first took the job, we didn’t know if she was going to have a job up here, so we thought there’s a chance we’re going to be doing long distance for a year. Then she ended up getting a call with Fox56 in Lexington. God works in really mysterious ways, and it worked out great and pretty fast.”

Question: What do you think was the biggest thing you learned working for Greg Mason the last two years?

Root: “Honestly, his X’s and O’s were great. Greg Mason is really, really good at it. I think the way he connects with people and his history of the game as well. I remember I was in high school at North Hardin, and Greg was recruiting. It was a Centre-Transy kind of thing. We came on a visit here and he knew everything about me. He knew what your parents did. He knew your town’s history. He knew the history of your high school. I really liked that because there’s nothing that parents and kids love more than what the whole experience is about. That experience was really neat, and that was in high school before I was even working with him, but his X’s and O’s and his detail into things is really the biggest thing.”

Question: Considering Greg Mason is the all-time winningest coach at Centre, do you think eventually the basketball court should be named after him?

Root:  “Absolutely. I mean he won over 450 games. I don’t care what school you are at, that’s impressive. Honestly, he’s been here for I want to say it was 32 years, 26 as a head coach. That type of loyalty you don’t see anymore. That’s really, really impressive. I think even he would say this, the wins and losses, they’re cool, but the people you impact, the stories you make, and just the history that you bring to a program like that’s really why we do this. I’d love to say,  ‘Oh, I’m chasing this amount of wins or whatever amount of championships.’ It’s part of it, but the impact you make in these kids’ lives, in these parents’ lives because these parents are trusting you with their 18 to 22 year olds, that is what matters . So I would say, whether it’s the court, whatever it may be, he needs to be honored because he is a huge, huge part of Centre basketball, and forever will be.”

Question: How have the players reacted to Mason leaving and you taking over just a few days later?

Root: “There was definite shock. We were not anticipating it but he had a great business opportunity and to be closer with his family. He doesn’t have to drive to Jackson, Miss., anymore on a weekend. He can be closer with his daughter, with his wife. He had said that some of the other benefits that come with that kind of job are better, and that’s an awesome opportunity. I think at this point in his life, that just makes a lot of sense.

“But it was shocking to all of us. But being transparent, the players are excited. They feel like, ‘Okay, we learned a lot from him, but we’ve got a lot going forward for us.’ We’ve got a really talented team. We’ve got experience. We made it to a conference championship last year. We’ve got great human beings. I think that’s the biggest thing in any program, any business, whatever, you got to have good people. Our kids are great kids. Expectations are high. I don’t know exactly where we’ll land in the preseason rankings, but a couple of the head coaches I’ve talked to think we’re going to be one or two. I’m embracing that and running towards it. I don’t want to be scared of it. I don’t want our kids to be scared of it. There’s an expectation here that we’re going to win and win at a high level and be the best human beings we can be while doing that.”

Question: Does the interim tag bother you or motivate you?

Root: “It doesn’t bother me at all. I’m not motivated by titles or anything else. I’m motivated by these kids getting the best experience because last year’s experience, whether as a player, whether as a coach, was the best experience I’ve ever been a part of. Not because we won, not because we got to a conference championship. It was the type of continuity that this team had. The brotherhood that this team had last year was something I had not been a part of from a coaching standpoint before. Seeing those kids accomplish their goals and winning that first game in the conference tournament was that seniors first conference tournament win in their four years here. Seeing their faces, knowing this is worth it, and then we won the semifinals. It was really, really special. So I wouldn’t say it motivates me, or does anything like that. What motivates me is the kids and making sure they’re the first best version of  themselves, so we can be the best version of ourselves as a team.”

Question: Sometimes a new coach has a grace period but Centre is coming off a big finish with big expectations, so does that put pressure on you?

Root: “I’m not oblivious to that, but I’m really excited these kids are going to have my back. I’m going to have their back. I think we built something. We’ve been building something the last two or three years, especially because the year before I got here, we’re 5-20. The second year, my first year here, we were 12-13. Improvement, but not where we want to be. And then last year, I believe, and I might be wrong on this, 17-10 is what we ended up at. Our expectation is to keep climbing the ladder, keep improving. The thing is we still have a relatively young group. A lot of our core is probably going to be sophomore/juniors this year. Expectations are high this year. Next year, it’s going to be even higher in my opinion. But as far as this year, I’m stoked about it. These kids are going to perform. We’re going to accomplish a lot of goals that we want to accomplish. We got everything in front of us we need.”

Question: What has your interaction been like with players’ parents since you were named interim coach?

Root: “They’re stoked about it. They know I’m not gonna be perfect, as far as X’s and O’s. Nobody is. I’m not gonna expect them (players) to be perfect, but what I can promise them is that I’m going to give it all I’ve got, and I’m going to love these kids no matter what.
“Let me use Ryan Shene as an example. If he scores 1,000 points or doesn’t score a point, I am going to love and care for him and push for him to be the best I can no matter what. Absolutely it would make my life easier if he scores 1,000 points but if he doesn’t I am still caring for him no matter what. After every game I go talk to the parents. That’s something I take a lot of pride in whether their kid played 40 minutes or didn’t play. Parents love that. I’ve received nothing but great comments from parents, and even some alumni that played here 10 to 15 years ago have reached out and been very supportive.”

Question: Do you worry overall how those who played with Mason or played with him will embrace you after he was part of Centre basketball for so long?

Root:  “I definitely hope that everybody embraces it. I still want to do all the alumni events. I’ve got something hopefully planned where we can invite everybody back, and then I want to have some different alumni events during the season. I know I didn’t go to Centre but I hope that they know my love for Centre is real, and that I really feel like I’ve got the best job in America. I’ve got kids who are high level people and are very talented at what they want to do. I’ve got a great parent crew with this group of kids. I’ve got an administration that’s very, very supportive. I want to embrace the alumni because there’s things I can learn from them as far as the school’s history and the way they want to be supported. They have got to be part of this program as much as I am.”

Root: “I think we’re going to get a really good one. It’s difficult this time of year, but I think the person that we might end up with is really, really special. We have got to obviously see how the whole process goes. There might be somebody that comes out of nowhere and is a really good applicant that would be great for our kids and great for our program.”

Question: Is there any one particular quality you want to make sure you add with your assistant?

Root: “That’s hard to say. I was given a chance when I was 25 years old to come here as an assistant coach. But I would probably prefer someone with more experience. I think we all would. But at the end of the day, the person’s got to love these kids the same way that I want to love them. He has to just be here for the program. I like to think that’s something I’ve really done a good job of is whatever the program needed., I was there. There’s been times in practice I’m down there wiping sweat on the floor. There’s been times I’ll drive six, seven hours to go recruit. I think that person has got to be able to do that but to also have some experience, maybe possibly some head coach or administrative experience, would be great.”

Question: Does the assistant need a Centre College connection?

Root: “I wouldn’t say so, but I think they’ve got to understand what Centre is about and what Danville is about. Hopefully they’ve got some kind of knowledge of what our team has done. I don’t want somebody coming in here that’s from some school that has no clue about us. I want them to know because Kentucky is very important to me. I’m from Elizabethtown. I played Division III. I liked being a Division III athlete and it is different from a Division I or Division II athlete. That’s a part of why I thought when I got the call a couple years ago (to coach at Centre) that it was a no brainer because I love what Kentucky is about, I love what Centre College is about and I love being Division III athlete and all that comes with that as well.”