Robert Woodard II has been waiting since last year to be part of the excitement of another season.
But the anticipation Woodard II felt for the 2015-16 season received a jolt in May when Luther Riley was offered and accepted the job to become the new boys basketball coach at Columbus High.
Riley led the John W. Provine High boys basketball team in Jackson to four state titles in 11 seasons. The hope is Riley can use his experience at the high school, college, and club basketball levels to transform Columbus High into a state championship contender.
“There is a great deal of talent in one gym,” Woodard II said. “We are just very eager to see what we have behind us and to push each other every day in practice. It just makes us hungry every day.”
On Monday, the Columbus High School sophomore standout and the rest of the Falcons’ boys basketball players will officially get that chance when they open practice for the 2015-16 season.
“Anytime you have an opportunity to coach, and then you coach some guys like this, of course my emotions are running high,” Riley said. “I am really excited and enthused the school board and (Columbus Superintendent) Dr. (Philip) Hickman gave me the opportunity to coach this group. They have worked hard and done everything I have asked them to do. They have accepted me and accepted some of my ways and things and never talked back or given me a problem.”
Riley replaces Sammy Smith, who led Columbus to a 22-6 record last season. The Falcons lost in the second round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A State tournament.
Riley comes to Columbus High after coaching at Alcorn State, a Division I school in Lorman, for four seasons. He had a 38-91 record in his time as head coach.
Riley re-enters the state’s high school coaching ranks with a team that could challenge reigning Class 6A state champion Starkville this season.
“Any coach would love to be in this situation,” Riley said. “A lot of the things I have thrown at them, which they may have thought were crazy, they have accepted it. They may have looked at me sideways, but they have never grumbled and they have done what they are supposed to do.”
The Falcons have eight players who have received basketball scholarship offers, while another, Chris Deloach, could receive an offer to play basketball or football in college. The biggest name in that group is Woodard, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward who was part of the gold-medal winning USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team. Woodard averaged 5.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game in the five-game tournament in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. He was 10-for-22 from the field (45.5 percent).
Woodard II has worked with Riley throughout the summer to prepare for this season. He said he sense a different vibe in the gym and surrounding the team as it enters a new season.
“The intensity is a lot high and it is a fast-paced game,” Woodard II said. “Everybody is challenging each other every day to see who is better than the next guy. We are challenging everybody to play their hardest and do their best.”
Woodard II said Riley has set the tone with an energetic style that often has him out on the court with his players or challenging them to shooting games. Riley, a former standout at South Leake High, went on to play basketball at East Central Community College in Decatur and Mississippi Valley State in Itta Bena.
“It has been very lively since he got here,” Woodard II said. “It is totally different. It is exciting and makes you ready to practice and work every day. It is just a fun atmosphere.”
Riley said he wants to play a fast-paced tempo buoyed by a suffocating defense.
Woodard II thinks Columbus will surprise people even though many in the state know Riley’s name and his track record.
“I think the expectations are a lot higher this year,” Woodard II said. “They really expect a lot now that coach Riley is here. They know what is behind it because the players have been talking a little bit, so we really have to back it up.
“I like it a lot because you get to go out and prove to everybody and to yourself you can be the best team in Mississippi. I am pretty hype for it.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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