GAINESVILLE, Ga. — New Gainesville boys basketball coach Charlemagne Gibbons said the rich history of Big Red basketball is what lured him to the Northeast Georgia school.
Gibbons was hired to take over the program on Tuesday and is ready to start cultivating Gainesville's talent on campus.
"There's been some history there already, so just trying to revive that," he said. "There's good natural talent in the area. Just having the opportunity to be somewhere where you can get players better with the resources and facilities they have.
The administration's collective vision of what they want all the activities to be was very attractive to a guy like me."
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While at Newton High School, Gibbons led the Rams to two quarterfinals and one semifinal appearance and was named Region 4-7A coach of the year in 2020. He brings a career record of 324-157 to Gainesville.
Before Newton, Gibbons spent one year at Starr's Mill and four years at NCAA Division I program, Florida Atlantic University, as an assistant.
Gibbons left for FAU after winning a state championship with Morgan County in 2014. He left behind a talent-rich program to further his career at the next level. He said coaching D1 basketball was a dream come true, but what he learned over the four years was even more valuable.
"When the opportunity came up, I had a chance to chase my dream," he said. "But it helped me, I think, evaluating talent and understanding how to cultivate talent at a quicker pace. At the collegiate level, you have to do it very quickly, or you're going to get fired. So, I think that has helped me at the pace in which I can develop talent."
Gibbons will finish the year at Newton but begin workouts at Gainesville as soon as possible.
"I'll be there three or four nights a week running workouts," he said. "I'll hit the ground running. I'll be very visible between now and when school gets out, so everybody sees me and gets to know me and understands what we're trying to do."
