When North Penn basketball needed an assist to find its next head coach, who would be better than the all-time assists leader at North Penn, Cordell Lord?
The program’s new leader is a 2015 North Penn graduate who was team captain and All-Continental Conference honorable mention in his senior season, the Jack Schott Memorial MVP of the Christmas Tournament in his junior season, and holds both the single-season and career assist record at North Penn.
Lord took his basketball career to the next level at Immaculata University where he majored in Exercise Science and Sports Management, and furthered his coaching and schooling at West Chester University where he coached for two years while still in school. Following graduation, he served one season as an assistant coach at Faith Christian High School.
After completely flipping a struggling Faith Christian team and helping lead them to a winning season, Lord was taken under the wing of North Penn head coach John Conrad as an assistant coach for two years.
“I’ve always felt like coaching would be something I would take up, which became more of a reality as I spent more time with it. I think it comes from my love for the game ever since I was a kid and I’ve been really blessed in my career so far, never having a losing season or missing playoffs, and I hope to continue that here this season and in the future,” Lord said.
Being an assistant coach at North Penn also gives him the unique opportunity of having already developed relationships with players before becoming the head coach.
“I think already having known some of the seniors and juniors is a big help because I can work better to their strengths, their weaknesses, and things to work on, and we’ll be able to develop a lot quicker without having to find those things out about each other,” Lord said.
Lord has already started to implement positive change within the program. The Knights had early-morning lifts the entire off-season and participated in multiple tournaments in the fall. He’s looking to add more team and individual film review once the season starts and get alumni involved at practices.
A significant part of Lord’s emphasis has been bringing a winning mentality into aspects of his players’ everyday lives.
“We have a motto that we’ve been following: 1% of your day, 100% of your effort. The meaning behind it is we want to get 1% better every day, on the court, off the court, homework, basketball, relationships; you want to give it your 100% because anything less than that and you’re cheating it and taking advantage of it,” Lord said. “That’s something we preach heavily because we don’t want to cheat the game because the game has given all of us so many opportunities to move forward and be successful.”
Lord is looking to get off to a quick start with five games in seven days to start the season.
“I know it’s a first-year approach and a lot of people are telling me to take my time with how things go, but I’ve always been hungry for success and I’m always aggressive in that standpoint. Our goals this year are to win the league, win the conference, and to be back in district playoffs, and earn a bid into states. I think all of those are attainable and possible, we just have to really focus and continue to put in the work we’ve been putting in throughout the fall and be as prepared as possible so we can get off to a quick start,” Lord said.
The Knights and Coach Lord intend on having a lot of success, and their hard work and new coaching are sure to have a positive effect on their season. Lord’s first action as a head coach will be against Pocono Mountain West on November 30.
“It’s important that every single person apart of the program is 100% focused and dialed in [from the first day] on the multiple things we’re going to have going on and I think I’m definitely going to bring a different approach into how we prepare and get ready for the upcoming games,” Lord said.