By Myra Bean

After 18 years in the coaching ranks, Brent Roberts has been named South Panola’s boys’ head basketball coach.

Roberts said he is both excited and humbled about taking the reins of the boys’ team that has faced some tough years recently. The team placed second in the district this year and hosted a north state game, finishing 7-18. The 2013-14 season was the last time the Tigers have finished with a winning season.

There is no doubt Roberts, along with assistant coach Micah Powers, have their work cut out for them. Roberts has a plan to rebuild the men’s basketball program. He convinced the administration that he is the man for the job.

“Coach Roberts believes that there is a winning basketball program here at South Panola High School,” said athletic director Jared Corlew. “As a lifelong member of Batesville and a proud SPHS graduate, he is ready to take on the challenge.”

Players and coaches in the high school and junior high program need to get ready because Roberts’ plan includes considering the basketball program as a whole.

“In other words, seventh through 12^th grade, I am going to work much closer with the junior high coaches and with their athletes as well,” he said. “Like this summer we are going to practice with the whole program, where we are all together working on fundamentals and hopefully, by me providing insight and guidance for our junior high program that it will be kind of a seamless transition.”

It is concerning to Roberts that players who had a lot of basketball potential in junior high are lost in the transition to high school.

“I want to kind of bridge that gap and keep as many of them playing as possible,” Roberts said.

Kiwannis Flowers coaches the junior high boys, while Carlton Howard was recently hired as the Batesville Jr. High girls head coach. Lacambrise Pope continues to coach the South Panola High School girls’ team.

Roberts graduated from South Panola in 2000. He played football for two years and basketball and baseball for four years. He attended Ole Miss where he got a degree in exercise science. He has been teaching and married since 2005. He and his wife, Candie, have three boys Miles, 13, Mathis, 9 and Mercer, 6.

His coaching career spans from 2005 when he was first the ninth grade head coach and then that team became the ninth grade/jr. varsity team. He was Charlie Howard’s assistant for 15 years and then Sylvester Kilgore’s assistant for two years. The last two years he took a break to watch son Miles play junior high basketball.

When Roberts played basketball, his senior year South Panola went all the way to Jackson under Wilbert Beard and was one game shy of winning the state championship.

Roberts said he is refreshed and back into it now. One of his main goals is to get more guys interested in playing.

“So, we are going to go out and kind of beat the bushes so to speak with the football and baseball team and get some more guys playing so we get some more athletes,” he said.

There are eight players on the team right now with five of them seniors. Roberts said they are working hard on fundamentals so when they get those down, they will be able to do what they want to do.

Roberts is just so glad to head up the basketball program at his alma mater.

“I’m tickled to death. Not that I feel like I deserve anything. I’m humbled. I’m glad that I got a chance to be the leader now. I’m humbled but excited to get to work,” he said.