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NORM BENN   Assistant Coach 13th Year

Norm Benn is in his 13th year as assistant women’s golf coach at Florida Southern, but has been a part of the Moccasin athletic program for a total of 25 years overall. As a member of both the Florida Southern Athletic Hall of Fame and the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame, Benn has helped coach teams to conference titles, regional championships and national tournament appearances in both women’s basketball and women’s golf. He’s the only coach in the school’s history to accomplish all three of those feats with two different teams.

Benn first came to Florida Southern in 1984 as assistant women’s basketball coach and was elevated to head coach the following season. He guided the Moccasins to a 23-4 record that year (1985-86), at the time the best in team history. They compiled an 8-0 mark in the Sunshine State Conference, and won both the SSC regular season and tournament championships. He was named the SSC Coach-of-the-Year for his efforts, the first of four times he won that honor from the conference.

The following year Benn coached the program’s first All-American in Kim Disbro, who at the time of her graduation was the team’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Disbro went on to become the first women’s basketball player in the Florida Southern Hall of Fame, but was later joined by two other players coached by Benn. One of those was three-time All-American Tarra Blackwell in 2004, and the other was All-American Kelly Charron in 2008. Blackwell was also inducted into the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame in 2004.

In his 12 seasons as head coach of the Florida Southern women’s basketball team, Benn won 20 or more games eight times. That was highlighted by the 1994-95 team which advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight and went 28-4 to set a school record for wins that still stands today.

Benn retired from basketball at the end of the 1996-97 season ranked among the top 20 active Division II coaches in career wins. His career record of 251-96 (a .725 winning percentage) makes him the winningest basketball coach in Florida Southern history for either the women or men’s programs. His teams won five Sunshine State Conference regular season titles, six SSC Tournament titles and one NCAA South Regional (1995), the first SSC women’s basketball team to ever win an NCAA regional tournament. He took the Lady Moccasins to the NCAA Tournament three times overall, was SSC Coach-of-the-Year four times and the South Region Coach-of-the-Year once. Benn was later inducted into the SSC Hall of Fame in 2003 (as only the second women’s basketball coach inducted), and the Florida Southern Hall of Fame in 2004.

At the conclusion of his basketball career, Benn became the assistant women’s golf coach in the fall of 1997, joining a program started two years earlier. Since then, he’s been a part of all four national championships won by the Lady Mocs and all four national runner-up teams.

A graduate of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Benn served as freshmen men’s basketball coach for six years at his alma mater, including two undefeated seasons. He was a three-year letterman in basketball and baseball at Drexel.

In addition to his coaching duties at Florida Southern, Benn served as the NCAA Compliance Coordinator from 1992-2005, and was also the Assistant Athletic Director for Development and Special Projects. His wife, Kathy, is an instructor at Florida Southern College and the chair of the Physical Education Department.