Get to know the Lees-McRae Coaches: Steve Hardin (Men's Basketball)

BANNER ELK, N.C. - Throughout the 2021-22 season, Lees-McRae College will be conducting interviews with a few members of our coaching staff in a series we have entitled “Get to know the Lees-McRae Coaches". Each week, a different head coach will sit down with Director of Sports Information Patrick Smith to answer some questions as a way to get to know them outside of their field of competition. This week features Head Men's Basketball Coach Steve Hardin.

Hardin, who is entering his tenth season as the head men's basketball coach, led the Bobcats to their seventh-consecutive Conference Carolinas postseason appearance during the 2020-21 season. Under Hardin's tutelage, multiple student-athletes garnered academic honors, while Quay Kimble and Jamarius Hairston were named to the All-Conference Carolinas teams. Hardin led the men's basketball program to their first appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament after winning the Conference Carolinas title during the 2017-18 season. In addition to his success for the Bobcats, Hardin also serves on the NCAA Division II Championship Committee and will continue to serve for a term that extends through August 2024.

• What is your alma mater? - Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
• Where were you born? - Elizabethton, Tennessee
• What is on the walls of your office? - Quotes, Championships of teams pics, coaching awards, Lees-McRae teams & traditions, signed game balls, basketball drawing boards
• Do you have any pets and what are their names? - A black lab/pit mix named Kobe after the legend Kobe Bryant
• What is your favorite thing about gameday? - Everything about gameday I love! Don't have any specifics just being with the guys and the mental preparation and anticipation
• If you had to choose one fast food place to eat after a long day of recruiting, where you are shopping? - I'm not that picky or have a specific fast food “love”…whatever I can find on the road. Around home I usually pick PALS
• What is on your playlist? - I'm old…41 years strong and also not tech savvy so I just play what is on SXM, Pandora, and also listen to a ton of podcasts. I listen to all kinds of genres. Side note, I also play guitar and like to read in my spare time (but I don't have much spare time with three kiddos and 16 sons on the Dunk Mountain squad!
• What was your first job? - Grocery store bagger in high school (side note, that's where I met my wife Tanika)
• What is on your bucket list? - Watch my kids grow up and find their dreams/goals, win a national title, and travel with my wife
• What are three things that you can't live without? - That's easy…my kids, my wife and basketball
• If you had to select one show to binge-watched, which are you choosing? - I like to binge-watch almost anything, but need variety…so I can binge-watch anything on Netflix. I don't like watching anything one episode at a time, so I need to binge-watch.
• What is your favorite meal? - Again, I like variety and don't have anything I “crave”, but I am picking something for this question…I probably would pick my “Nanny Virginia's” chicken casserole.