By Rick Ryan
Staff writer
You weren't seeing double if you noticed a couple of Kanawha Valley boys basketball coaching positions being filled last week.
Yes, it was D.J. Johnson taking over at Riverside and D.J. Williams at Sissonville.
Both longtime area assistants are in their 30s and getting their first head coaching gigs.
They take over under differing circumstances. Johnson's hiring marks the 12th head coaching change at Riverside since January of 2008. Williams, meanwhile, follows Rich Skeen, who coached the Sissonville boys for 13 seasons before stepping aside. Skeen remains as girls coach and athletic director with the Indians.
"I'm excited about it,'' Johnson said, "but I realize this is a different situation than the ones I've had in the past.''
Johnson, a former player at Riverside and George Washington, has spent much of past few years on the coaching staffs at fellow Kanawha County Class AAA programs GW and Capital.
He's been working his players around football drills during the current three-week summer practice period, focusing on individual skill development and introducing team concept drills.
Williams, a native of Washington, D.C., has been one of Skeen's assistants for seven seasons. Since taking over, he's been working with his players on pushing the pace of games.
"We're in a super-hard conference,'' Williams said of competing in the Class AA Cardinal Conference, "so if we can get as many easy baskets as we can, I think it benefits us. We've been working on pushing the ball upcourt, a quicker tempo to get easy baskets, and each game we've gotten better with it. They've responded to what we're doing.''
Both new coaches inherit some talent.
For Johnson, returning players include 6-foot-6 senior-to-be center T.J. Wood, who led the team last season in scoring (16.4 points per game), rebounding (12.1) and blocked shots (3.5). Senior guard Jacob Clark averaged 15.0 points and tallied 21 or more points six times over his last 13 games.
Williams welcomes back players such as 6-3 senior Michael Pinkerton (13.4 ppg), 5-9 junior Brady Jones (11.3) and 5-11 senior Nate Samples (9.8). Jones ranked among the Kanawha Valley leaders with 73 field goals from 3-point range.
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By the time Notre Dame's Jarrod West and Poca's Luke Frampton played in the North-South Basketball Classic on June 16 - ostensibly their final high school game - they were already college students and working on getting their bodies ready for the rigors of Division I play.
West was recruited by Marshall and Frampton by Davidson. Each got the green light from his coaching staff to leave campus and participate in North-South practices and the game at the South Charleston Community Center.
I asked both West and Frampton what they had to work on as they began their college careers.
"I've got to get stronger and continue to get quicker and more athletic,'' West said. "The length and size at the Division I level is totally different than high school basketball. West Virginia has a lot of good players here, but it's just totally different.
"And I've got to keep up with the pace. Marshall plays at a very high pace, a lot of scoring. I just think I've got a lot of stuff to learn. Not really working on plays or anything - just learning it on the go.''
Frampton chimed in some of the same thoughts on where he needs to improve.
"Pretty much everything,'' he said. "Be a better all-around player - quickness, ball-handling, shooting, defense. Get bigger and stronger, get better at everything. It's a different level. Some of these guys are really good - a lot better than I am. It's hard to get used to, but it'll be a challenge.''
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Former Mingo Central football coach Danny "Yogi'' Kinder was in a reflective mood a little more than a week ago as he served as the South head coach for the WCHS-TV 8 Fox 11 North-South All-Star Classic at University of Charleston Stadium. His team fell to the North 10-7.
Kinder, who coached in Mingo County for nearly 40 years before stepping down last December - clutching a Class AA title won by his Miners - was grateful for one last chance to work with players for a week, then walk the sideline for the game.
"I'm pretty fortunate to be in a place where I had players,'' said Kinder, who also led Matewan to the 1993 Class A crown. "Ninety-five percent of them were real good kids.
"And here [at the North-South game], I really enjoyed myself, win or lose. I'd have loved to win, but it was such a great experience with the young men. I'll never forget it.''
n Capital's current four-year deal with Kentucky power Johnson Central calls for just one home game - that coming in 2019, the final year of the contract.
n Valley Fayette's five home games are listed for 5 p.m. kickoffs, including an Oct. 13 date against Buffalo.
Contact Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickryan@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @RickRyanWV.