COLUMBUS – Zach Allison’s coaching tenure at Heritage Academy was short as it was announced on Wednesday that he would be leaving the program.
Allison is heading back to Jackson Prep, a place he has strong ties after being an assistant and the junior varsity head coach before taking the position with the Patriots.
“I just thought about it for a few days about if I was going to apply, maybe reach out and see about the opportunity there,” Allison said. “The draw with Jackson Prep is that there’s a lot of great people, great kids and I just think it’s a great situation. The basketball is great as well as the school.”
The position opened up after longtime head coach Tim Wise, who had taken the Jackson Prep to back-to-back Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Class 6A state titles, moved back to Memphis to coach at Evangelical Christian School (Tennessee).
In his one season with Heritage Academy, Allison took Heritage to a MAIS Class 5A, District 1 title, reaching the semifinals of the 5A north state tournament and an appearance in the quarterfinals of the 5A state tournament.
The Patriots finished 20-7 overall in the 2022-23 season.
“I want to congratulate him on going back to Prep,” Heritage Headmaster Sean Harrison said. “This year, he did a great job for us. It stings when you lose a good coach, a good teacher and a positive representation of Heritage.”
Though only with the Patriots for a year, Allison cultivated strong memories with the school and students.
“Heritage has been awesome,” Allison said. “The people at Heritage have been great. I’m so appreciative of (Sean) giving me the opportunity to be a head coach coming from Jackson Prep. The faculty and staff have been awesome. There’s been a great group of kids and parents, so my time at Heritage, I’m extremely thankful for that. It was really great.”
As Allison leaves, the search for a new head coach for boys basketball is ongoing, and Harrison said a number of resumes and applications have already come through for it.
Interviews are already lined up for potential coaches and the expectation is that a new head coach will be hired before the end of the school year, preferably within the next month or so.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty quick process,” Harrison said. “I fully expect this to be swift in bringing in another high-level coach.”
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