Mount Vernon tabs Robin Duncan to lead boys basketball program

Mount Vernon chose continuity with an edge of change, naming Robin Duncan as interim head boys basketball coach after Doug Novsek stepped down. The move awaited formal approval at the next MSD of Mount Vernon School Board meeting, but the message was already clear: the Wildcats wanted someone who knew the room, the roster and the expectations that come with leading one of the area’s most closely watched programs.

Duncan did not arrive as a clean break from the past. He spent last season as Mount Vernon’s junior varsity coach and an assistant under Novsek, giving him a front-row view of a team that finished 13-11 overall and 7-5 in the Pocket Athletic Conference. That record made the Wildcats competitive, but not settled, and the decision to elevate Duncan suggested the school valued a steady hand as much as a new direction. In a statement, Duncan said he was “excited and grateful” for the opportunity.

The timing mattered, too. Mount Vernon’s season had only recently ended with a 39-36 overtime loss to Boonville in Class 3A sectional play, a narrow exit that left the program immediately moving from postseason disappointment to offseason planning. In Indiana, that handoff happens fast. Weight room work, skill development and summer reps often decide whether a team with a winning record takes the next step or slips back into the pack, and Mount Vernon clearly decided Duncan was the coach to manage that transition.

The hire also closed the loop on a coaching chain that has stayed inside the program’s orbit. Novsek had been hired in May 2025 after two seasons on Stan Gourard’s staff at the University of Southern Indiana, bringing college experience to a high school job with pressure to deliver quickly. Duncan’s promotion pointed in a different direction, toward a coach already embedded in the Wildcats’ daily routines and familiar with a senior-led group that just went 13-11. For Mount Vernon, the bet was not on a complete reset. It was on keeping the foundation intact while asking Duncan to raise the standard from within.