Kentucky Wesleyan’s Happy Osborne taking medical leave from coaching

Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball head coach Happy Osborne will take a “temporary medical leave” effectively immediately, the school announced Thursday.

Osborne, the former longtime head coach at Georgetown College, is starting his fifth season in Owensboro. Osborne’s Panthers, an NCAA Division II team, won their season opener but have lost three games in a row, plus an exhibition game against Western Kentucky on Wednesday night, since then.

Assistant coach Jason Mays will serve as acting head coach during Osborne’s absence.

“We are going to be completely patient and respectful with this process,” KWC Director of Athletics Rob Mallory said in a news release. “It is exclusively a personal health matter. We are going to allow Coach Osborne as much time as he needs so he can make a healthy return to lead our program.”

Osborne has a 98-24 record at Kentucky Wesleyan, which includes Great Midwest Athletic Conference championships the past two seasons. KWC finished 27-4 in 2015-16 and 28-3 last season.

Osborne went 456-84 in 15 seasons as head coach at Georgetown College from 1996 through 2011, including an NAIA national championship in 1998. He was acting head coach at the school for 10 games in 1995-96.

The Panthers take on Auburn Montgomery on Saturday in their first home game of the season. Mays is in his first season at Kentucky Wesleyan College after spending two seasons at Valdosta State University of the Gulf South Conference. Prior to Valdosta, Mays spent seven seasons coaching alongside Osborne at Georgetown College.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 7:09 PM with the headline "Kentucky Wesleyan’s Happy Osborne taking medical leave from coaching."