Willie Mays Jr. is laying the groundwork to build the basketball program at Bruce he believes can be among the best.
“I want to build a basketball program, not just have a team,” Mays said. “I want to take these young men and help make them hard workers, not just as players but as successful citizens too.”
Mays, 35, has just begun his first season as head coach of the Trojans. He’s a 1999 graduate of BHS.
“It’s a great honor to have this job,” Mays said. “I played here. My first assistant job was here. This means a lot to me.”
Mays is in the process of building the program he wants with a foundation of hard work.
“We’ve got a good group of junior high guys buying into the program. As long as the community supports them, I think Bruce can have a great basketball program for a long time.”
Mays’ Trojans are off to a 1-1 start after a loss to Nettleton in the Leonard Holland Classic to open the season and routing Water Valley Tuesday night.
“The guys we have here have shown a lot of heart, discipline and devotion,” Mays said. “If they keep rolling with what they’re doing now, I look for them to go pretty far this year.”
They’ll go pretty far based on their defense.
“My style of play is a run and gun,” Mays said. “I’m mainly a defensive-minded coach. I believe in hard-nosed defense, pressuring the ball and the offense will come from that. We have to learn some offensive sets, but my main thing is to create turnovers.”