Longtime Charleston Boys Basketball Coach B.J. Ross takes over the Greenwood Boys Basketball program recently vacated by Donnie Husband.
Coach B.J. Ross a 1994 graduate of Charleston left the friendly confines of one title town for another. He returns to the South Sebastian County school after a stint in the early 2000’s. “The community, it’s a very identical situation to Charleston. It’s a sports town, it’s an academic town, it’s a community based town. That’s the same thing as Charleston.” Coach Ross said on what attracted him to come to Greenwood.
In the Meet and Greet the school held to introduce Coach Ross to the community Resident News Sports was able to catch up with the newly hired Coach. “I tell people, I’ve got to be the biggest supporter of all athletics over here, and that’s the way I was at Charleston. If you want your team to compete at the level of the football team, the volleyball team, the baseball team, the girls basketball, tennis, golf, softball, everything. You have got to support that part too.” Coach Ross said “I’ve got to be as big of supporter of those if I want my program to get where they’re at.”
Coach Ross doubled down on the wanting to make sure he is supporting the other sports within the school to ensure his programs future success. “It just feeds off of each other. I’ve got to have [Football Head Coach] Chris Young interested in what I am doing. If I’m not interested in his, and I’m not excited down there fist bumping kids on the sideline on Friday nights. Why would he support me?”
“Our task was to find the best basketball coach we could find.” Athletic Director Dr. Dustin Smith said. “He was somebody we targeted. He’s had a lot of success at Charleston, he’s got an incredible coaching record.”
“If you see what Charleston’s been in their program, that’s the same similar stuff here. The kids are going to compete their tails off. They are going to be a part of what he does. He is everything we were looking for.” Dr. Dustin Smith said.
We have noticed a different culture to the baseball team this year and they are riding an excellent wave of success in Conference play this season. When asked about the culture and building the team up Coach Ross had this to say, “I talked to the high school kids today. They’re not football players they are Bulldogs. They’re not baseball players they are Bulldogs. They’re not basketball players they are Bulldogs. They’re multi-sport athletes. It’s a culture that we have got to create, that we are all one.”
“I think Greenwood, I mean the sky’s the limit. There’s the right pieces here, a good building foundation. You just have got to come in every day and say ‘I’m going to work to fix that.'”
Coach B.J. Ross inherits a team that has several returning starters like Peyton Presson and L.J. Robins. With one playoff off appearance in the past five seasons, as Coach Ross said, the sky is the limit for the Bulldogs this upcoming season.
