When Matt Lynch left the USC Salkehatchie campus that day, it was a hard no.Â
Well, a no, anyway.
The two-year college in Walterboro had not had a men's basketball team for a year, the program suspended after it went through four coaches in a four-month span in 2022.Â
"They were on sabbatical, that's what I call it," Lynch said.
So when Lynch interviewed for the job that fall, he naturally had some reservations. After all, there were no players, no assistants, no team.
"I was so excited for the interview," he recalled. "But as I'm walking around, I'm thinking, 'There's no way I can do this.'"
But by the time Lynch had driven back to where he worked as an assistant coach, at Chowan University in Murfreesboro, N.C., that "no" had turned into a "yes."
"By the time that ride was over, it was, 'Oh, this will be a piece of cake. I have got to go do this.' I had talked myself into it," he said.Â
Lynch took over a dormant program and this season led the Indians to 20 wins and the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.
USC Salk won the Region X tournament and compiled a 20-13 record in its first season back. On Monday, the Indian lost by 96-82 to host team Hutchinson Community College in the national tournament.
"It's commonly known," Lynch said, "that you don't want to play Hutch, at Hutch, in the national tournament."
Lynch, who also has worked in women's basketball at Miami and in men's basketball at Youngstown State and UNC Wilmington, revived USC Salk basketball with a mixture of homegrown and international talent.
The Indians have had success in the past, including a stint under coach Cory Henderen, who at 22 years old in 2015 was the youngest men's basketball coach in the country.Â
But with limited resources, salary and facilities, USC Salkehatchie struggled in 2022 to find and keep a coach.Â
"They had already canceled the season (2022-23) when I was hired, because they had no coach and no players," Lynch said. "So they gave me about a year to go out and recruit a whole team."
Lynch began by hitting all the gyms he could in South Carolina.
"I live in Summerville, about three miles from Summerville High School," he said. "So I started there, and just tried to get in every gym in the state."
He also went to work on USC Salk's gym, renovating the locker room and finding better furniture, new carpet and a TV.
Lynch's Palmetto State efforts produced Jai Chisolm from Summerville, Makhi Rivers from Oceanside Collegiate and Justin Baxter from Bamberg-Erhardt High School.
Lynch also turned his attention to international players. Through his past work stops, Lynch had established international contacts. And with the help of the University of South Carolina's office for international students, he was able to get players from Australia (five), England (two), Costa Rica and Germany.
USC Salk had a balanced attack this season. Nevarda Higgins, a 6-7 wing from Gold Coast, Australia, led the team at 13.4 points per game, one of four players to average in double figures. He was named to the all-Region X team and the league's newcomer of the yearÂ
Chisolm, a 6-3 guard, was next at 13.1 ppg, followed by the 6-7 Baxter at 11.9 ppg. Rivers, a 5-11 point guard, averaged 10.4 points.
The Indians' run through the Region X tournament included three wins, and landed them in the junior-college version of March Madness.Â
"We set out to resurrect a program that was on sabbatical," Lynch said. "I cannot tell you that I expected it to go the way it went, this quickly. But I'm definitely not complaining."
