By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE — That didn’t take long. In a special called meeting that lasted all of five minutes, the Trussville City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to hire Jeremy Monceaux as Hewitt-Trussville’s new head basketball coach.
New Hewitt-Trussville head basketball coach Jeremy Monceaux and Hewitt-Trussville Athletic Director Lance Walker. (Photo by Bobby Mathews)
Monceaux replaces Jeff Baker, who resigned on February 14. Two months to the day later, Huskies’ Athletic Director Lance Walker introduced Monceaux, who emerged early as the frontrunner for the job.
“We were really excited about the interest level, and I think that just speaks to the quality of the school system here,” Walker said after the BOE made Monceaux’s hire official. “A good example of that is the tax renewal this week. That shows the kind of positive energy and momentum our school system has. When reviewing (Monceaux’s) information, from the beginning I was really impressed with everything that he’s done at several different levels.”
Monceaux has coached at the collegiate and high school levels, played at Liberty University, and as a high school star at Parkway Christian, he set several records for boys’ basketball in the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA), including single-season points (1,333), career points (4,555), single-season field goals made (458) and single-season free throws made (427).
But the job ahead isn’t just about him, he said on Thursday morning. Instead, it’s about building relationships and rebuilding a program that was once regarded as a rock-solid high school basketball school.
“The first order of business, we’ve got to build relationships,” Monceaux said. “I don’t know any of the players, and I haven’t met any of the other coaches and teachers on campus. So before you start the hard work, you have to go and develop those relationships with the players and the people who are going to work alongside you to build the program back up to where everyone would like it to be … we have a plan for that. The hard work will come, and we know that. I’ve done it a few times before, so we feel good about that. But the first order of business is that we’ll go and let the kids know that we love them and care about them, and to let the people in the community know that they’re going to have a team that will represent them well and make them proud.”
As much as Monceaux is relishing the challenge of rebuilding the Huskies’ program, it was still difficult to say goodbye to his players in Springville.
“This is my 14th year of coaching, and I’ve played my whole life. Telling those kids that I was leaving was probably the toughest day of my career, because Springville is a special place,” Monceaux said. “It has special leadership and the kids there are special young people. It definitely wasn’t an easy day by any stretch, but this (meaning Trussville) is home. I feel like I’m coming home. My wife’s here, my kids are in the school system. It’s an unbelievable situation in terms of resources and leadership and the growing community.”
