Thursday March 28th, 2024 8:43PM

Basketball: Watson fired up to take charge, resume his basketball career in Hall County

FLOWERY BRANCH — You could almost feel the excitement buzzing through the phone.

"I'm excited to coach in Lanierland, to coach against those Hall County schools -- it's all come back around full circle," Chezley Watson said.

Indeed, Watson, who once awed the crowds of Lanierland and Hall County as an East Hall basketball player, is now hoping to make his mark as a coach with Flowery Branch after taking over the Falcons boys program earlier this week.

"I had a tremendous high school career, but I really believe this is more exciting because I get more out of it watching players get better and improve -- and that's my goal every day," said Watson, a 1997 Vikings graduate who is still the program's all-time leading scorer with 2,411 points. "I know people may kill me for saying this, but I don't really care too much about winning and losing. For me it's about getting the kids to buy into the hard work and grind first, because that's what it takes to succeed at this level."

After spending the last three seasons assisting the Jefferson girls program, as well as coaching travel basketball in northeast Georgia, Watson has seen what it takes to coach a successful program from the inside.

"(Jefferson girls head coach) Jason Gibson mentored me and let me try things that not a lot of other head coaches might have," said Watson, who helped the Lady Dragons to back-to-back state quarterfinal appearances and three straight seasons of 20-plus victories. "I'd had an offer to become a head coach four-five years ago, but I wanted to spend time with someone who had a program going, and coach Gibson certainly had that."

Watson also played under outstanding prep coaches, including Hall of Famer Seth Vining and then-assistant Joe Dix at East Hall.

"Coach Vining gave us some quality workouts to keep up with individually or in small groups and did a great job motivating us," said Watson, who will have a similar focus with the Falcons. "I want to get in the gym and help the guys develop their skills. Basketball takes so much skill that you have to spend so much time working in the gym; you have to appreciate the grind. And you have to develop who you are as an individual and team before you go up against anybody else. I'm going to plant the seed of being hard workers, because I don't feel like I really trained hard enough and polished my skills enough in high school."

Watson -- who went on to play collegiately at Virginia before transferring to West Georgia for his senior season, where he was a first team all-conference player -- allows that that may take time, especially at a program that graduated seven seniors from last year's Class 5A Sweet 16 squad and will lose some students to the newly-formed Cherokee Bluff, sinking from Class 5A to 4A in the process.

"It's almost like starting over, but I'm still excited," said Watson, who will meet his new players after spring break (April 2-6). "I may have to develop some sophomores and freshmen who might not have had to be ready before. I'd love to play like East Hall with five in, five out, but we're going to have to develop depth to do that."

It is a process that Watson is ready to dive into full-time.

"The timing was just perfect for me to go after this job," said Watson, whose twin sons Chandler and Chase (both 16), had already transferred to the school. "We just bought a home in the community, and it just feels like such a family place; I love the atmosphere there. I've already been a fan of the Falcons for a couple of years because I had several girls on my travel team from Flowery Branch. So I always watched and pulled for them. And with coach Sokol leaving and my boys being there it was just a perfect situation."

  • Associated Categories: Sports, High School Sports
  • Associated Tags: High school basketball, Flowery Branch boys basketball
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