University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
- Email:
- william.hensley@unco.edu
- Phone:
- 970.351.1716
Will Hensley was hired as Northern Colorado's director of men's basketball operations in June 2012 and enters his second season as an assistant coach for the 2014-15 season. He previously spent six seasons on the coaching staff of Northern Arizona.
Head coach B.J. Hill will look for Hensley to add his basketball knowledge and interpersonal skills to the outstanding work ethic and organizational skills he demonstrated managing the program’s day-to-day operations his first year with the team.
The Bears improved its team record each season with Hensley on the bench. After improving by four wins from 2011-12 to 2012-13, UNC finished four games above .500 and made a postseason appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2013-14. The Bears finished the 2013-14 season ranked sixth in the nation in field goal percentage with a .493 average. UNC also ranked in the top five of six categories in the Big Sky Conference.
NAU posted a 19-13 record in Hensley's second season with the Lumberjacks in 2010-11 and it made sixth national postseason appearance in school history in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Lumberjacks were the second-best three-point shooting team in the country, behind only Ohio State, and ranked fourth overall in field-goal percentage.
Hensley coached Shane Johannsen to an All-Big Sky honorable mention selection in 2010-11, and he helped Johannsen finish with the nation’s best field-goal percentage at 72.7 percent (ESPN.com) for the second time in his career, tying his school and Big Sky Conference single-season field-goal percentage mark. Johannsen also set the school single-season block mark in 2011.
In Hensley's first full-time season, the Lumberjacks qualified for the Big Sky Championship while ranking 29th in NCAA Division I in field-goal percentage at 47.1 percent. Hensley tutored Johannsen that season, then a junior, to the second best field-goal percentage mark in the Big Sky at 62.9 percent, the fourth-best single-season total in school history. Senior Nick Larson also had his most productive season of his career under Hensley's eye, scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds per game and ranked fifth in the conference in rebounding overall.
Hensley coached as a student assistant for three seasons at NAU and played two seasons for the Lumberjacks before his playing career was shortened by an injury.
As a student assistant, Hensley assisted the NAU coaching staff in all aspects of the daily basketball operations, including coordinating all team travel for the program.
In his four playing seasons in Flagstaff, NAU won a combined 60 games, advancing to the Big Sky Conference Championship title game two times and winning a school-record tying 21 games in 2007-08.
During summer 2008, Hensley worked 10 summer camps across the country. In addition to the NAU team and day camps, he worked at the UCLA Elite Camp, as well as camps at Baylor, Texas A&M and for Five Star Basketball.
Hensley saw action in all 32 games with one start during the 2005-06 season at NAU, and he played an integral part in the team’s Big Sky Conference regular season title and NIT berth after averaging four points per game on the season. He scored seven points in the 2006 Big Sky Championship semifinal game against Sacramento State.
He recorded his career-best game against Johnson & Wales that season after scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds. He was awarded a medical redshirt for his initial season that saw him see action in nine games before missing the final 18 games due to injury and illness (spiral meningitis).
A 2004 graduate of Midlothian (Texas) High School, Hensley was a four-year high school starter (the first in school history), and he was selected First Team Texas Region II and Second Team Texas All-State as a senior. He also earned district all-academic and Texas Association of Basketball Coaches All Academic State honors at Midlothian.
He averaged 19 points, nine rebounds and three blocks per game as a senior, setting school records for blocked shots in a season (99) and career (286), rebounds in a career (786) and career points (1,790). He also set the Midlothian single-game mark with 13 blocks versus nationally-ranked Cedar Hill.
Hensley, who graduated with a degree in history and education in May 2009, is married to the former Megan Wyatt, who played volleyball at NAU and is also a graduate of the school.
