Unity Reed—Bryan Carroll says he aspires to develop Unity Reed basketball at “all three levels” starting this season. There’s a long way to go for the Lions who haven’t had much success on the court lately, but there was definitely a sense of optimism better times are ahead in the stands Saturday at Wakefield. While just a Fall League game, Carroll’s team defeated defending state champion South Lakes in front of some of the Lions’ excited fans and parents.
Carroll was an assistant at the school for former Unity Head Coach Marcus Lawrence from 2011-2019, coaches for Higher Level AAU, and was an assistant at Colonial Forge last year. He has ample experience but incremental goals.
“I have a familiarity with the school and am excited to be coming home,” he says. “Right now we just want to be competitive from start to finish.”
Centreville–Gordon Person was tabbed to replace Andrew Hypnar. Person assisted Kevin Harris at Westfield this past year, and is the third Wildcats coach since Harris left the school after winning a state championship in 2021. Person is no stranger to Centreville, as he coached there when Harris did, and he is currently a math teacher in the building.
Lewis–The Lancers hired Bryan Hill to lead their boys basketball program. Hill, who played at Georgia Tech, has previous head coaching experience at Mount Vernon and Alexandria City (T.C. Williams) among other places. It is a high-profile hire for a school that seeks to recoup past glory on the hardwood.
Justice–In another National District coaching change, the Wolves hired Calvin Mainor to replace Matt Deuterman. Mainor is a promising young coach with coaching experience at Pro Skills AAU Basketball.
Woodbridge—Aaron Jones returns to town after moving back from Oregon. A few years ago he was slated to take the Freedom-Woodbridge job, but he moved to that state for work. Now he replaces Courtney Coffer, who resigned to head the girls program at Woodbridge. Jones is no stranger to Prince William County and is/has coached for high-profile Team Durant AAU. He could attract talent to Old Bridge Road.
Colgan–Colgan gets a young coach to replace Jason John in Evan Greening. Though young, Greening already has a lot of varsity coaching experience as top dog at Brentsville, Park View, and Loudoun County. He’ll take over a Colgan program that has been hurt with a few top players transferring out in recent years, including Five-star recruit Nate Ament and Eann Pennix.
Brooke Point–Meanwhile Jason John moves down 95 a little bit to Brooke Point. While the going was fairly tough at Colgan the last few years, John is highly regarded as a coach and should have success at Brooke Point. The Black Hawks’ cupboard is not bare–they have 30 wins the past two years.
Dominion—Ryan Williams is the new Head Coach at Dominion, replacing Anthony Eifler, who resigned during the season last year due to a personal matter (Jeff Berg served as Interim Coach). The Titans are excited by the Williams hire as like Eifler, Williams is an alum of Dominion. He played at Mary Washington in college, and served as the JV coach for the school last season.
Loudoun County–Veteran coach Alex Feliu is the new leader for the Captains’ boys program. Feliu is perhaps better known in nearby Charlestown, West Virginia, where he was the varsity coach at Washington HS for several years, but he has solid ties in Northern Virginia.
John Champe–Another new coach in the still-somewhat-new Catoctin District is Jeff Granger at Champe. Granger, who played basketball collegiately at Hampton, has been an assistant coach at Champe the past five years. For that reason, the well-regarded new coach should be able to keep some continuity from the Walter Webb era.
James Wood-James Wood and Tim Wygant parted ways after 11 years this offseason. The Colonels hired Ben Bates, who has a lot of basketball coaching experience since playing/graduating from Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg in 1999. He’s been the Millbrook varsity coach, Loudoun Valley and Clarke County JV coach and more, and will try to turn James Wood into a consistent winner.
Potomac School–Perhaps the biggest coaching news in the offseason was the retirement of the beloved Levi Franklin, who had been at Potomac School for 15 years and before that Paul VI. With Potomac School well-regarded as a program, the Panthers selected Jeremy Myers from many candidates to head their boys program. Myers has been an assistant at Bullis and Bishop McNamara, and has the opportunity to make TPS even more of a factor in the always-competitive MAC.
–Chris Jollay