The Kentucky native is heading back home for his second head coaching job in the state. After four years on head coach Shaka Smart’s staff with the Texas Longhorns, associate head coach Darrin Horn has agreed in principle to become the next head coach for the Northern Kentucky Norse, according to Gary Parrish of CBS. A sportscaster in Lexington confirmed the report shortly thereafter and Northern Kentucky announced the hire on Tuesday evening. “It’s a thrill for me to be named the head coach at Northern Kentucky,” said Horn in a statement released by Northern Kentucky. “It was a job I’ve had my eye on for a while now. There is great momentum and energy surrounding both the basketball program and University. Norse Basketball is a winning program with players who know what it takes to win. I am impressed with the vision that both Ken [Bothof] and President Vaidya have for the program and University. My family and I can’t wait to join the Norse family and Northern Kentucky community.” Horn is the second Smart assistant in the last two years to land a head coaching job after Mike Morrell took over at UNC Asheville a year ago. Unlike the UNC Asheville program, however, Northern Kentucky is in good shape after John Brannen’s four years at the helm — the new Cincinnati head coach went 81-51 in Highland Heights, with two NCAA Tournament appearances in the last three seasons. Accepting the Northern Kentucky job marks Horn’s first head coaching job since he spent four seasons at South Carolina following a successful five-year run at Western Kentucky, where he played in college. He’s also become the seventh Smart assistant to land a head coaching job, a group that includes LSU’s Will Wade and VCU’s Mike Rhoades. During his time at Texas, Horn was known for his ability to successfully develop the frontcourt players for the Longhorns, including the last two Big 12 Freshmen of the Year, Jaxson Hayes and Mo Bamba. Along with Jarrett Allen, Bamba was also a first-round draft pick and Hayes is projected as a potential lottery selection. Horn’s best work in Austin, though, might have been turning Prince Ibeh into the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year following the foot injury suffered by Cameron Ridley in Smart’s first season. “I’m very excited for Darrin and his family about this terrific opportunity,” Smart said in a statement released by the school. “Over the past four years, he’s been a valuable asset to our program and impacted our team and staff in many ways. We are extremely grateful for all that Darrin has done at UT and will follow his success at Northern Kentucky with great excitement.” So the loss is a significant one for Smart, as Horn was also a strong recruiter who helped land Hayes. Now Smart will have to find someone who can replace Horn as a recruiter and also has a strong track record of developing frontcourt players during the most important offseason of his coaching career.

Author Becky Crouch Patterson discusses her new book "Luckenbach Texas - The Center of the Universe" at BookPeople.

MJ Hegar, the Air Force veteran who narrowly lost a Congressional race in Round Rock last year, announced Tuesday she would challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in 2020.  A previously unknown candidate, Hegar drew attention from national Democrats after her viral campaign video describing her time as a pilot in Afghanistan and her later battle against the Pentagon’s ban on women from serving ground combat positions. Hegar lost her 2018 midterm race by less than three points to Republican Congressman John Carter.  “I didn’t win (my last) election, but we won something much bigger,” Hegar said in a three-minute ad on Twitter. “We didn’t just close the gap in my district by almost 20 points — we helped change the status quo.” Despite Hegar’s November loss, Josh Blank, the manager of polling and research at the Texas Politics Project, said Hegar will still be a strong candidate, because she already has some name recognition and a fundraising and campaign base. “The reality is that the Democrats don’t win a lot of offices,” Blank said. “The bigger problem the Democrats have faced in previous election cycles is they’ve had candidates run races, lose and then not run again … Running for an office again, any office, is a benefit to Democrats.” Last month, a member of four-term Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro’s campaign team said he is “seriously considering” a run against Cornyn, and Castro himself said last week that he would make a decision soon.  “She brings a ton of great qualities to the race and will provide a unique perspective that all of us ought to take seriously — especially Washington John Cornyn,” Castro political adviser Matthew Jones said in a statement Tuesday morning. Toward the end of Tuesday’s video, Hegar directly referenced Cornyn, calling him the “tall guy” behind Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in every press conference.   #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width:100%;} /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Want more content like this in your inbox every morning? “He calls himself Big John, but he shrinks out of the way while Mitch McConnell gets in the way of anything actually getting done in our government,” Hegar said. “Weakness, partisanship, gridlock — those are not Texas values, John. But maybe you’ve been in Washington so long that you’ve forgotten that.” Cornyn has been in the Senate since 2002 and is the second-highest ranking Republican in the chamber. Republicans were quick to release statements knocking Hegar. “New York liberal Chuck Schumer found his chosen candidate in MJ Hegar,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Jesse Hunt said in a statement.

For three hours on Tuesday night, student volunteers from UT’s School of Law offered free legal service to students looking to expunge records of alcohol-related offenses. The Expunction Project, administered by the Mithoff Pro Bono Program, invited students charged with one offense — like possession or consumption of alcohol as a minor or the use of a fake ID — under Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code. Law students, supervised by practicing attorneys, advised the students and prepared court petitions to begin their expunction process. Meg Clifford, staff attorney for the Mithoff Pro Bono Program, said the program has hosted expunction clinics since 2014, but the clinic on Tuesday was the first to focus solely on TABC violations. Laura Mahler, lead organizer of the TABC Expunction Clinic, said she advocated for the specialized clinic because she saw a number of students requesting aid.  “We know that a criminal record can be an obstacle for students when applying for housing, jobs and state licensure, and we hope that we will be able to continue to offer this opportunity to ensure students do not have to worry about a ticket when planning for life after graduation,” said Mahler, a third-year law student. Mahler said the TABC Clinic was a smaller pilot event, but she intends to offer larger clinics in the future. According to previous Daily Texan reporting, the TABC began stepping up its inspections of fake IDs around West Campus in September 2018. Some students fail to recognize that their TABC citations stay on their record unless they get them expunged. The point of the event was to inform and serve them, Clifford said.   #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width:100%;} /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Want more content like this in your inbox every morning? “Lots of times, people are told that when their case has been dismissed it ‘goes away,’as in it no longer appears on your records,” Clifford said. “Well, that’s not entirely accurate.” Clifford said students unable to make the event on Tuesday who want to expunge TABC offenses related to underage drinking should register for a future TABC expunction clinic online. Those with alcohol-related offenses, such as public intoxication and DWIs, that did not fall under the scope of Tuesday’s clinic can return to the broader expunction clinic in the fall.   Patrick Marcus, a second-year law student who volunteered Tuesday night, began working at expunction clinics for the hands-on experience. “It’s an absolute privilege to have the skills and access to the resources and knowledge to be able to provide this service, and there’s a definite need for it,” Marcus said. “It’s a pretty vital program.”