State high school hoops fans will see a familiar face in gyms next year. David Boyd, who has won six boys state basketball titles at four different schools, will lead East Jackson during the 2014-2015 season, according to Boyd and East Jackson principal Jamie Dixon. The school will officially announced the hire Thursday at an information session at the school. Boyd was at Excel Christian last year, but resigned during the season.
Boyd was not sure if or when he would get back into coaching until former Milton athletics director and current East Jackson principal Jamie Dixon contacted him.
“I began to realize East Jackson was close to Athens (UGA) where my daughter Christina is a junior and my wife graduated from,” Boyd said. “One of my former players, Charles Mann, is doing really well there and I have a great relationship with (Georgia assistant coach) Jonas Hayes and I have a real good relationship with Coach Fox.”
Dixon and Boyd worked together at Milton where Dixon was the athletics director while Boyd coached the boys hoops team. It was there the pair established a relationship of mutual respect.
“David brings an ability to coach basketball unlike I have seen anywhere in my career,” said Dixon. “His ability to make kids better is phenomenal. It is second-to-none in my opinion.”
ROOM TO GROW …
While East Jackson is a relatively new school with little success on the hardwood, Boyd sees potential in the Athens-area program.
“The community seems very hungry for a winner,” Boyd explained. “The gym is very nice especially for a AAA school. The weight room is just incredible, it looks like a college weight room. It looked like a situation where you could come in there and build a program and the community would really appreciate that. I went to one of their games at the end of the year and was very impressed with the enthusiasm of their student body and the potential of their players.”
Boyd began his head coaching career at his high school alma mater, Campbell, in 1980 and was there until 1993. He then took the job at Tucker, where he won another state championship in 1996. Boyd then moved to Gwinnett County’s Berkmar and won back-to-back state championships there in 2000-2001. After a four-year stint at Riverdale, Boyd landed at Milton in 2008, where he won state gold in 2010 and 2012. At the north Fulton school, however, Boyd was forced out in 2012 due to what was termed “undue influence.”
“A lot of families wanted to be a part of what we were doing,” said Boyd of his career at Milton. “It is an excellent school, great basketball program, guys getting scholarships, being held accountable in the classroom, and so it was a situation where people wanted to be. And I feel like the only thing I did wrong there was care a little bit too much about making sure that families were making the right decision for their sons.”
PROGRAM BUILDER …
Boyd sat out the 2012-2013 season, then was hired to coach at Excel Christian in Cartersville. He resigned midseason before moving to St. Simons. After a few months of rest, the Georgia State graduate is back on the hardwood. Highly experienced in rebuilding programs, this will be Boyd’s seventh head coaching job. Making a first impression is important when trying to turn around a program, according to Boyd.
“I want to make sure we get off to a great start and talk about setting goals as a team and as individuals,” he explained. “And we’ll talk about work ethic, effort and those kinds of things that you can control and just really get everybody excited going to work and I’m going to send out a grade sheet to teachers to let them know that’s going to be an important part now.”
East Jackson has not had a winning season since 2008-2009 when the Eagles went 15-14.
The hire is pending board approval, which will meet on April 14.
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