Basketball/Support Staff

Jimmy Lincoln Special Assistant to the Head Coach 1st season at NSU Southwest Baptist, 1987

Jimmy Lincoln is in his first season on the Northwestern State staff, working as a special assistant to the head coach.

Lincoln brings with him a wealth of experience, including 25 seasons as a high school head coach in Arkansas and Missouri among his 29 years in basketball.

During his two-and-a-half decades as a prep coach, Lincoln won more than 63 percent of his games, fashioning a 512-298 record in a career that included 12 trips to state tournaments, 12 seasons in which his teams reached the top 10 in the state, 11 district titles and a pair of third-place finishes in the state Final Four.

Lincoln also spent two years as a college basketball assistnat coach — one season each at Omaha and at Southwest Baptist University, his alma mater, in Bolivar, Missouri.

Lincoln also brings plenty of experience in the private sector, having worked as a vice president of operations for 10 years at a Fortune 500 company.

Lincoln has been married to his high school sweetheart, Jera,for 38 years and the couple has three sons — Clay, Joe and Sam — and eight grandchildren — Bond, Sawyer, Brynlee, Harrison, Clark, Baker, Pierce and Samantha.

Travis Allen Assistant Director of Basketball Operations Third season at NSU Grand Canyon, 2020

Travis Allen takes on a new role as he enters his third season with the Northwestern State men's basketball program. Allen is in his first season as the assistant director of basketball operations after completing a two-year graduate assistantship. Allen handles various duties within the program, including team meal logistics, travel, expense reports and practice support. Allen was the head student manager at Grand Canyon University for four seasons in which he trained, organized and directed a staff of managers. He performed a number of duties, including supporting practice, weight training, travel and recruiting operations. Other professional development includes co-founding Ball Out Phoenix, a basketball camp for underprivileged youth in West Phoenix. He volunteered during the 2017 Final Four. Allen completed his master's degree in sport administration from Northwestern State in May 2022. He currently is teaching classes as an adjunct profressor in the College of Sciences.

Leighton Kentwell Director of Basketball Operations First season at NSU Miami University, 2019

Leighton Kentwell begins his first season on the Northwestern State basketball staff as the director of basketball operations. Kentwell spent one season as an assistant coach for UNC-Pembroke where the Braves posted a 27-4 record and 22-2 in Conference Carolinas. After earning his bachelor’s in kinesiology and health from Miami of Ohio in 2019, Kentwell served as a graduate assistant for two seasons at Missouri State. He played a key role in player development, video, social media and marketing while also overseeing community service events. He served as Miami of Ohio’s head student manager as an undergraduate for four seasons, in charge of facilitating daily practice operations, facilitating travel and involved in recruiting, film study and scouting. Active on the camp circuit, Kentwell has staffed clinics by Jay Bilas, Patrick Ewing and Xavier and Rider universities.

KC Henry Director of Player Development Third season at NSU Wyoming, 2020

After completing his master's degree, KC Henry begins his third year on the Northwestern State staff, taking on a new role in the 2022-23 season. Following his two-year graduate assistantship, Henry is now NSU's director of player development, expanding upon a role he held as a graduate assistant. During his assistantship, Henry worked closely with NSU's Henry served as a men’s basketball manager at Wyoming for the past two seasons, assisting in areas such as scouting reports, basketball camps, game day duties, daily practice drills and practice stats. An All-State basketball and football player Lingle-Ft. Laramie High, Henry was on the Wyoming basketball roster for most of the 2018-19 season. Henry also was a part of the Eastern Wyoming College women’s basketball coaching staff while starting his college academic career, particularly focused on post play, workouts and pregame preparations. He earned his bachelors of science in kinesiology this past spring.

Sam Daoust Director of Olympic Sports Strength & Conditioning Second season at NSU Laurentian, 2019

Kellen Haymon Graduate Manager Third season at NSU Northwestern State, 2022

Sam Daoust was named Northwestern State’s director of Olympic sports strength and conditioning in December 2021.

Daoust made an immediate impact upon his arrival, taking over strength and conditioning programming and implementation for NSU baseball, soccer, volleyball and softball while also assisting with the Demon football team’s strength and conditioning program. He has added men’s and women’s basketball responsibilities for the 2022-23 seasons while managing the NSU strength and conditioning interns and graduate assistants.

Daoust came to Northwestern State after a short stint as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Newberry College, a Division II school in South Carolina. While at Newberry, Daoust designed and implemented year-round strength and conditioning programs for Newberry’s men’s basketball, men’s soccer, wrestling and volleyball teams while assisting with football.

Daoust began the American portion of his coaching career as an intern at Boston College where he worked with the Eagles football team, including 2022 first-round NFL Draft pick Zion Johnson.

Prior to coming to the United States, Daoust was a strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater, Laurentian University, in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

At Laurentian, Daoust coached five provincial medalists, five Canadian national qualifier swimmers and helped the men’s soccer team qualify for the 2019 playoffs.

A two-time Laurentian graduate (B.S. in kinesiology and master’s in human kinetics), Daoust also was the head strength and conditioning coach at Healthy Living Elite Training for two years and was a strength and conditioning intern with the Ottawa Fury FC of the North American Soccer League.

He is a National Strength and Conditioning Association certified strength and conditioning specialist. While earning his master’s degree, Daoust had an article published in the Journal of Exercise and Nutrition.

Kellen Haymon is in his first season as a graduate manager on the Northwestern State men's basketball staff after spending the previous two seasons as an undergraduate manager. A former four-year basketball letterman at Anacoco High School, Haymon spent those two seasons working alongside the Demons' staff as a jack of all trades, filling in wherever needed. Haymon earned his general studies degree from Northwestern State in the summer of 2022 and currently is pursuing a master's degree in health and human performance at NSU.

Joey Heimel Graduate Manager Second season at NSU St. John's (MN), 2019

Joey Heimel is in his second season as a graduate manager with Northwestern State men’s basketball, serving as NSU's video coordinator. Heimel served one season as an assistant coach at Mayville State in North Dakota, performing tasks such as handling team meals, tracking stats, game strategy and player recruiting. He spent the 2020 summer in the “NBA Bubble” as a team attendant in Orlando, assisting equipment managers and team setup at various facilities. Heimel has video experience as a volunteer coordinator Minnesota State, including working with Keemotion, which NSU has implemented. A 2019 Saint John’s (Minnesota) University graduate, Heimel has a communication degree and assisted the basketball staff with video and practice duties throughout his undergraduate tenure. He is pursuing a masters degree in sports administration. Heimel also served as USA Basketball support staff during October of 2019 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Levi Woods Graduate Manager First season at NSU Westminster, 2022

Levi Woods is in his first season as a graduate manager with the Northwestern State men's basketball program. Woods played one season at Westminster College before suffering a career-ending injury, leading him to a career in coaching. As a student assistant coach at Westminster, Woods gained experience working with the school's varsity and junior varsity programs. While completing his undergraduate degree in sport management, Woods spent his final year plus at Westminster as the men's basketball program's director of player development and social media manager. On the court, Woods helped develop a second- and a third-team all-conference player as well as a member of the conference's all-defensive team. With Woods on the staff, Westminster won 16 percent more games than the previous season. Woods has extensive experience working the camp circuit, having assisted at camps run by Tony Bennett, LaVall Jordan and Greg McDermott. Before suffering his career-ending injury, Woods had a stellar prep career at Puxico High School, leading the state of Missouri in scoring as a senior (27.6 ppg). He is the second-leading scorer in Puxico history, topping the 1,800-point mark and is the school's 3-point record holder. As a schoolboy, Woods earned three all-conference and three all-district honors. Woods, a 2022 graduate of Westminster College with a 3.61 grade point average, is pursuing a master's degree in sport administration at Northwestern State.