Thursday March 28th, 2024 9:07PM

Basketball: Leopards hand over reigns to long-time assistant Ryan Griffin

By Jeff Hart Sports Reporter

HOMER — During the 2019-20 basketball season, Banks County assistant boys basketball coach Ryan Griffin was relieved of his duties -- from manning the popcorn machine in the concession stand.

“I think that was mainly for the safety and well-being of the community,” Griffin explained. “It just seemed that every time I was on popcorn a cloud of smoke developed. It was not good. I'm more of a go-getter. I’ll go get whatever we need to do for whatever needs to be done.”

Griffin is ready to take that attitude to the far end of the bench as he was recently approved as the new head coach of the Leopards. Griffin takes over for Mike Cleveland, who built the Leopards into a state power in his nine seasons at the helm. Griffin, a 2009 Banks County graduate, was in the No. 2 chair for four seasons after spending two years as an assistant under Seth Vining at Lakeview Academy.

“This is a dream come true for me,” Griffin said Thursday during a phone interview. “I was raised here, I played here. There’s no place I’d rather be. I’m planning on being a lifer here in Homer. I have a 1-year-old and I would love to be here and have a chance to coach him in high school.”

Cleveland, who is also the school’s Athletic Director, led the Leopards to the playoffs the past six seasons, including a quarterfinal berth in 2020, marking the first time in program history they picked up two wins in the same playoff bracket. He said Griffin is the right guy in the right place at the right time.

“Ryan is a great guy, is a great mentor to the kids, and he’s a great coach already,” Cleveland said. “There was really no one else we felt we wanted here at this time. We’re very excited about him taking things over and keeping this going in a positive direction.”

But don’t expect much to change on or off the court. The Leopards have been known for high-scoring offenses playing a zone-style defense and Griffin didn’t feel inclined to shake things up.

“Coach Cleveland pretty much built this program so we’re going to follow his blueprint,” Griffin said. “I don’t see any real reason to change a whole lot. But every team is different so we’ll look at the makeup of next year’s group and adjust. I’m a ‘do-whatever-will-get-us-a-win’ kind of guy.

“The zone defense is probably here to stay. Our guys know that system. We’re a little unique with our zone and that has been a huge part of our success. But if we had guys to run a press like Coach Vining ran it then we would look at that.”

After coaching under two area legends, Griffin said he is not worried about following in Cleveland’s footsteps. The Leopards do lose the program’s all-time leading scorer in Carl Cleveland (Young Harris-signee) but return several key guys from last year’s playoff squad.

“First off, Coach Cleveland will still be here and he is making this transition very smooth. That’s been a blessing for sure,” Griffin said. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity to coach in a place that I love and want to be a part of. 

“Our goal is to keep this run going as long as we can. We can’t replace a guy like Carl but I think we have enough guys that can step up in several areas to pick up the slack. We’re just ready to get going and show what we can do.”

  • Associated Categories: Sports, High School Sports
  • Associated Tags: High school basketball, Banks County boys basketball
© Copyright 2024 AccessWDUN.com
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.