FOR THE first time since 1965, playing under the name Manchester Central, the Coffee County High School (CCHS) basketball team has made it to the state tournament. That achievement could be surprising for those who don’t know the Red Raiders. Coach Andrew Taylor said that on an individual basis the team is neither as tall nor as fast as some of their opponents.
“Our average height is not what other teams are, in our classification,” Taylor said, “Our vertical leap… it may not be what other teams we play, you know, have individually, but collectively as a group of five out on the court [our team members] play very well together.”
Co-athletic Director Brandon McWhorter said a lot of the team’s success could be attributed to Coach Taylor, who he said was one of the most unselfish men he knew. Taylor has worked off and on as the boys’ basketball coach for 20 years and has been at CCHS for 25 years.
“He’s preached to them team ball,” McWhorter said. “Every team that we play you look at and go, ‘we should be beat,’ but they don’t care about that, you know. They just care about being together and on that court and playing, which is what made us special.”
Making the TSSAA state tournament is particularly impressive because of how new most of the players are to varsity basketball. Despite this, Taylor said the team has been playing well both defensively and offensively – they have been sharing the ball, catching rebounds, and being efficient on both ends of the court.
“We returned one starter,” Taylor said. “We had a good group of young men, they just didn’t have a lot of varsity experience – so as the season progressed, especially since the Christmas break, we’ve been playing really, really well.”
“While the Red Raiders are well-rounded on the court, they excel even more off of it. Historically the team has been regularly involved in community service, and several are involved in student government or are in the top ten percent of their class,” McWhorter said.
“We’re not all about basketball,” he said. “These kids are smart; they work hard in the classroom.”
The Manchester community has responded in kind, supporting the team at all of their home games in greater and greater numbers. At the game on March 16, Taylor said that people lined up in the school hallways and the streets, as the players walked to the bus.
“We’ve had tremendous crowds at all of our home basketball games,” said Taylor. “We also have a very good girls team, so we’ve routinely had very good home crowds… our community’s support has been just really tremendous. -GN
