Our Parkinson's Place: 10 things to know about Aggies coach Billy Kennedy, including his fight against Parkinson's and his team's record run

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Monday, March 21, 2016

10 things to know about Aggies coach Billy Kennedy, including his fight against Parkinson's and his team's record run

March 20, 2016

Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy gestures as forward DJ Hogg (1) cheers behind him in the second half of a second-round men's college basketball game against Northern Iowa in the NCAA Tournament Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Oklahoma City. Texas A&M won 92-88 in double overtime. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Billy Kennedy's Texas A&M team had to fight and scrape its way into the Sweet 16, battling back from a slow first half against Green Bay, and then pulling off a comeback for the ages against Northern Iowa.

Now let's take a closer look at the coach, who has the Aggies setting school records for the most wins in a season.

Here's 10 things to know about Coach Kennedy:

This isn't his first run at A&M

Kennedy was briefly an assistant for the Aggies. He was part of Kermit Davis' staff in the 1990-91 season. Davis is notorious around College Station for being found to have committed NCAA rules violations, which led to his resignation after his lone 8-21 season. Kennedy, however, was not linked to the violations.

Destination job

Since Day One in College Station, Kennedy has made known that he wants to remain with the Aggies for good. "This is a destination job for me. I plan on retiring here," he said at his introductory news conferencein 2011.

Fight with Parkinson's

Kennedy had to learn to live with Parkinson's disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system, and a diagnosis that hit hard at the start of his first season in Aggieland.

"It's the biggest challenge I've ever had," he said. "Knowing that I'm in the public every day and everyone's watching and waiting to see what's going to happen. To gain confidence and faith and trust and know it doesn't matter, God's got me, I don't care what they say, what they're looking at anymore. To get to that point took me a while."

In his first season, he left the team in the hands of his assistants for about a month as he sought out treatment for the ailment.

Health nut

Part of the way he battles Parkinson's is with a strong commitment to his health. Kennedy manages his health with medication and a fierce dedication.

He diets carefully -- less McDonald's, more Panera and green smoothies -- and works out with the team. He's tried yoga, acupuncture, weightlifting and running among other things.

New contract

With the team on a hot run this season, Texas A&M officials in early March decided to give Kennedy a new deal that keeps him at the school through the 2020-2021 season.

"I am extremely appreciative of the support and confidence that Texas A&M has demonstrated to me and to our staff," Kennedy said in a release announcing the new deal.

Record wins no new thing

The Aggies' 28 wins through the second round of the NCAA tournament are a single-season record for the program. When Kennedy was at Murray State, he also led the Racers to a school record season in wins. The 2009-10 team went 31-5 and made the second round of the NCAA tournament. That run helped him become one of the hottest names in coaching carousel rumors until the Aggies hired him at the end of the following season.

Recruiting wins

Part of A&M's upswing has come at the hands of good recruiting on Kennedy's staff. The Aggies' class of 2015 was ranked the fourth best in the country by 247Sports. That class comprised five four-star recruits.

Recruiting rivals playing dirty

Kennedy and his staff has said that other coaches targeting the same recruits have used his Parkinson's diagnosis to try to push kids away from A&M. Bleacher Report's Jason King relayed some of the lies that players have been told:

Kennedy isn't going to live out his contract."

"He'll never be at practice because he'll be in the hospital all the time."

"You won't get to know him because he'll only show up for games."

"One coach even told [a recruit] that he might catch Parkinson's from being around Billy," Aggies assistant Kyle Keller said.

Three tourney teams

With Texas A&M making its first NCAA tournament appearance this season, Kennedy has now coached three teams into the Big Dance. In addition to the 2009-10 run at Murray State, he took Southeastern Louisiana to its only tournament in 2004-05. The Lions lost out in the first round, but Kennedy's run to the tournament was enough to tempt Murray State to hire him away.