After six years as head boys basketball coach at Mt. de Sales in Macon, Scott Wynn is putting an end to the daily commute and returning to his coaching roots. Formerly an assistant coach with the Northside High Eagles, Wynn is now the head coach for hoops at NHS, a program coming off the first back-to-back region tournament championship run ever.
Wynn already knows what it is like to be a part of winning basketball at Northside. Under former head coach Kevin Smith, Wynn assisted on the bench when the Eagles won two region tournament titles a decade ago (though not consecutively). Mt. de Sales hired him to take over the Cavaliers program in the 2007-08 school year, and in his fourth season there (2010-11) he led MDS to the GISA Final Four for the first time in 11 years and its region tournament championship.
This past weekend, Northside’s Eagles played in a summer tournament held at Mercer University. There, they took on local rivals along with Bleckley County, Wilkinson County, Turner County, Chapel Hill and Newton County. In nine games, Northside had a 5-4 record.
But total wins and losses were not of a concern to Wynn. He wanted to establish several important imperatives for his new job. The main focus was on man-to-man defense.
But beyond things on the court, Wynn also wanted to stress his expectations off the court, such as behavior and dress, on the first day of the summer as opposed to try-out day in the fall.
“The kids picked up on what we want to do,” he said. “They played team ball, understood the new system that we want to run. You can tell that they’ve learned.
“I walked into a fantastic situation. I’ve got some really talented players, and the support from the Northside community, the other coaches and the athletic director (Kevin Kinsler) is unbelievable. And the two assistants here played for Northside the first time I was here. So we’ve been through it before.”
Those assistants are Matt Simon and Reggie Tharpe. It was under Simon as acting head coach that Northside won the 2013 Region 2-AAAAA tournament against Jones County High at the Greyhound gym in Gray. Simon took over the Eagles when head coach Ken Price had to take an administrative leave for family reasons.
Price then retired at the end of the school year.
“I was real happy for them,” said Wynn about following Northside through last season. “The kids responded well in a tough situation. It’s always difficult when you have family issues. That experience was tremendous for them.”
Wynn added that it showed the type of character and work ethic Northside student-athletes possess. He said the accomplishment of back-to-back region titles reset the basketball tradition at Northside. His immediate job, however, is one of rebuilding because he won’t have graduating seniors like sub-region co-player of the year Jarius Smith, UT-Chattanooga signee and 6-8 center Christian Kennedy and others like Rodney Levine and Justin Burnham.
In fact, there are only two players returning with significant varsity experience. Wynn said the talent pool is still strong in that while a majority returning mostly played junior varsity and ninth grade ball last season, he believe several could have played varsity if not for the deep senior class ahead of them.
“These kids are ready to step up,” said Wynn.
It’s certainly a different situation than Wynn’s initial year as head coach at Mt. de Sales. Back then, he had five seniors complimented by six sophomores.
“They were extremely talented and set the tone for the next few years,” said Wynn.
“(At MDS) they take care of the students and teachers. The community support is tremendous. It was tough to leave for that. The kids are committed.
“But Northside’s the same way.”
Wynn also said he feels Mt. de Sales made the right choice in moving to the Georgia High School Association after the upcoming school year. He said athletically the Cavs may struggle at first adapting to the speed of the game, but he feels they will eventually be competitive across the board and that the players are excited about the move.
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