Former PC Friar star LaDontae Henton is joining Ed Cooley’s coaching staff (Photo PC Athletics)

Buckets is Back.

LaDontae Henton, the first recruit of the Ed Cooley Era at Providence College and one of the school’s all-time great players, is returning to campus. Henton, now 29 years old, will join Cooley’s coaching staff as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach.

Henton replaces Matt Garvey who resigned last month to continue his coaching career at the prep school level. Henton’s duties will be off-the-court and focus on mentoring the Friar players and learning the coaching business.

 
“I am very excited to have LaDontae on our staff,” Cooley said in a release. “LaDontae was my first recruit at Providence. I have seen him grow as a player and a person and as a mentor as well. He has a lot of experience playing the game and I believe our players will benefit from having him around and learning from what it takes to win at this level.”

As the Special Assistant to the Head Coach, Henton will assist Cooley in a number of different areas. The school says Henton will “mentor current student athletes off the court in areas such as academic, social media, and community engagement. He also will act as a resource for the student athletes and the Athletic Department in the areas of student athlete development and Diversity-Equity-Inclusion.”

The Lansing, Mich., native switched his original college commitment from Dayton to PC and never looked back. He was incredibly productive in his time at Providence, becoming only the second Friar to ever to score more than 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds in his career. He ranks second all-time in scoring (2,059 points) and fifth all time in rebounding (1,054 rebounds). Henton played a starting role on three post-season teams, one in the NIT and two NCAAs and the Friars 2014 Big East Tournament title team in his four seasons at Providence. 

After graduating with a degree in Social Science, Henton played professionally in the NBDL and abroad in Spain, the Philippines, Hungary, Israel and Taiwan.

Henton is already on the job and while he cannot actively coach during practices, he is the embodiment of the `family culture’ that Cooley so often stresses with his players.