- December 13, 2025
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A basketball went airborne before bouncing and rolling its way down the hardwood. Another seemed destined for the sideline, heading toward the bleachers.
One by one, every Mustang chased both balls in the same sequence. Teammates lined the baseline to cheer and applaud each effort. But one voice cut through their ever-roaring chorus.
It belonged to Kaden Knott. Each and every ball came from his hands as he led a hustle drill to open practice for Lakewood Ranch High boys’ basketball.
Entering his first season at the helm, he’s already brought the fire.
“Players don’t care what you know until they know that you care,” Knott said. “That’s been my No. 1 thing here. It’s important to me that they know that I care about them.”
Knott, at 26 years old, has been quick to attack a new opportunity with the Mustangs. The FHSAA boys’ basketball regular season began Nov. 17 and he’s approaching it as a varsity head coach for the very first time.
His last job was as a graduate assistant for Florida State men’s basketball during the 2024-25 season. But his experience at the high school level — beginning when he was 18 — spans eight years, including his longest stint as head of player development and assistant for Maclay School boys’ basketball in 2017-22.
His time spent in the collegiate ranks was short-lived by his own choice. Players would come and go as they pleased, leaving little room for genuine relationships or much sense of a community when not competing.
It’s high school basketball where Knott said he thrives. This new role satiates a burning desire within him, and it shows. The team around him knows better than anyone.
“He loves basketball, and he’s crazy about it,” said junior guard Keller Glynn. “It’s kind of infectious — it spreads to the whole team.”
Before jumping into drills at a Nov. 12 practice, Knott gathered his team at mid-court. He didn’t have to shout or wait for their attention. The entire huddle fell to silence when he began to speak.
That said plenty. During the weeks of tryouts and pre-season practice, he sorted and sifted through the school’s basketball talent, ultimately finding the right guys to follow him into competition. All of them want to listen and learn.
Knott, who’s also a Lakewood Ranch social studies teacher, put his work day behind him when he stepped into the gym. He demanded high intensity from the get-go, running a three-step hustle drill at the outset of practice.
The coach directed each of his players to take a charge near the baseline, sprint down the court to collect a loose ball and then save a ball from going out of bounds. And he didn’t just stand by and watch as they embraced the challenge — he was almost as dynamic as the players themselves.
With a whistle in his mouth and basketballs in his arms, he moved with each player through the drill, bellowing a mix of commands and encouragement. That’s where his youth shines through.
“I look at it, at this point, as more of a big brother role,” Knott said. “It’s something where they can come to me and trust me, and it goes for anything on and off the court.”
To balance his emphasis on effort, he also doesn’t take himself too seriously. There was no shortage of smiles beneath that signature mustache.
As the Mustangs went through passing drills before diving into the playbook, he wouldn’t let a well-executed rep go unrecognized. A couple claps and a wide grin followed every smartly-taken shot.
Knott can flip a switch when someone misses their assignment or fails to communicate, but at the same time, he’s happy to step back and analyze. He wants to see his players work out kinks by themselves every now and then.
After all, the team in front of him is essentially as new as himself. The Mustangs took 1,200 shots in 2024-25, and with players who took 1,106 of those having graduated or transferred, there is an almost-negligible amount of continuity.
“We don’t have a lot of varsity experience, which I believe adds a little bit of a gadget to us,” Knott said. “We’re about 10 deep, and we don’t know who’s going to pop out when. We’ve got a lot of guys who have the ability to do so.”
That’s just one aspect of the tall task he’s chosen to tackle.
Lakewood Ranch hasn’t posted a winning season since 2021-22 and struggled mightily last season en route to a 4-20 finish. Knott represents the program’s fifth coach in six seasons.
Jeremy Schiller, current IMG Academy coach, oversaw a dawn of Mustang dominance from 2011-2021. His teams won four district titles, played in three regional finals and even reached the 2019 FHSAA Class 8A state championship.
Results were resoundingly positive — a 119-27 overall record between the 2014-15 and 2018-19 seasons. Dating back to 2022-23, though, Lakewood Ranch is a dreadful 15-57.
There’s already signs that Knott is cut from a different cloth than his failed predecessors.
“The intensity is much greater than last year,” said sophomore guard Sam Frye. “We have a lot more energy at practice. The way he coaches gets our energy at a higher level than last year, for sure.”
Knott will judge the games ahead by effort, first and foremost. And he wants each of his players to leave the court every night knowing they gave nothing less than everything they had.
His fire rages high, burning brighter than most. He leaves little doubt when it comes to his level of commitment to the opportunity in front of him.
With Knott’s guidance, the road ahead might not be so rocky.
