After a long, exhaustive process, Churchland High School in Portsmouth finally has a new Head Boys Basketball Coach.
Mike Holland, previously the Churchland Middle School Coach the past two years, has been hired - four months after both he and John Tice were told that the job was theirs.
Back on April 1st, it was announced that Tice would be the guy leading the Truckers, only to see a week later the job go to Holland. Instead, Portsmouth Public Schools decided to re-post the position and go through the hiring process once more.
Many expected a hire to be made before school let out in June, but the process went through much of the summer and into August when Holland finally received the job for sure.
"Oh man, I was real emotional when they called me this morning. To get to come back home to my alma mater is a real joy. I know there are a lot of good kids out here in Portsmouth. We're going to try to keep them here at our school and help turn this program around," Holland told VirginiaPreps.com on Thursday following his official hiring.
"I know we have a good base coming up from the Middle School. In the next couple years, we want to be right up there with some of the top teams around. That's what I'm aiming for."
Last December, Lawrence Glover stepped down as the Truckers' Head Coach in his second season a day after the team's 77-60 loss to Oscar Smith in the Norfolk Scope Holiday Classic. He went 2-23 at the helm, including 1-7 during the 2015-16 campaign before Quinton Harper, the Head J.V. Coach, finished out the season on an interim basis.
Under Harper, the Truckers went 4-11 and lost to eventual 4A State Tournament runner-up Lake Taylor 80-59 in the Conference 17 Tournament semifinals. That gave them a final record of 5-16 for the season.
Holland, 39, graduated from Churchland in 1995. He played on the last basketball team at Churchland to reach the State Tournament, which came during the 1993-94 campaign when they finished 25-4 overall and won the Eastern Region Championship, defeating Kecoughtan 69-53. That team, under the direction of Mac Carroll, saw its quest for a state title come to an end in the quarterfinal round, losing to Petersburg 58-38.
On the collegiate level, Holland played at Christopher Newport University for C.J. Woollum. He graduated in 1998 fifth in school history for assists with 378 and currently sits eighth on that list.
The goal for Holland will be to get a Churchland program that has had seven straight losing seasons and just two regional playoff berths in that stretch turned around.
"The last couple years have been pretty challenging, frustrating for kids and everybody involved. It's just about changing the mentality there," Holland said.
"I plan on being around for a while and to work as hard as them. I live in the gym, so I can only expect them to live in the gym. I don't think it'll be too long for a turnaround. I think we have some nice pieces in place. We just have to give them that belief."
Churchland's last winning season came in 2008-09 when they finished 13-11 overall under Pat Dulin.
Matthew Hatfield serves as State Basketball Analyst for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a staff writer for Tar Heel Illustrated. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10 AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.
