After 17 seasons at his alma mater - Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk - Darren Sanderlin was ready for a change. Sanderlin has been named as the new Head Boys Basketball Coach of the Kempsville Chiefs in Virginia Beach, the school's Student Activities Coordinator Tim Wolf announced on Wednesday.
"It feels real good actually. I feel reinvigorated to be able to take over a program that seeing from the outside looking in seems so promising," Sanderlin told VirginiaPreps.com.
"I like building a program because when you build a program you really impact young lives. You're the catapult of their dreams. We're going to get after it and we will play basketball at a high level."
In 17 seasons with the Bookers, Sanderlin compiled a record of 228-183 overall. That was highlighted by the school's Group AAA State Championship victory, 55-51 over Scottie Reynolds-led Herndon in 2006.
The Bookers also reached the State Tournament in 2007 when they defeated Nansemond River in a classic Eastern Region title game before falling to GW-Danville in the State Semis as well as in 2009, where they were ousted by William Fleming, 54-53, in the State Quarterfinals.
"It was hard and harder than people know. They think this just happened over night. This was something that I was pondering," stated Sanderlin on leaving the Bookers.
"I think maybe the kids needed something new. I know I needed something new. I needed a new challenge."
As a player at Booker T. Washington, Sanderlin hit the game-winning shot in their 1985 State Championship triumph over Petersburg, 54-52 in double-overtime. The guy nicknamed 'D-Nice,' would later go on to play at the collegiate level for Norfolk State University, where he earned All-CIAA honors and set multiple school records.
At Kempsville, Sanderlin takes over for Taft Hickman, who announced his retirement earlier this season. The Chiefs were in prime position to reach the Region 5A Tournament with a record of 9-6 overall when Hickman took a leave of absence, but lost four of their final six games to finish 11-10 overall and a win behind Princess Anne for the eighth and final playoff spot.
While the Bookers finished above .500 for a string of eight straight seasons under Sanderlin from 2004-12, they've fallen on hard times lately. Booker T. has posted a winning record just twice in the past seven years, finishing 13-13 overall during the 2018-19 campaign as they were knocked out by Phoebus, 82-59 in the opening round of the Region 3A Tournament.
Kempsville hasn't been to the regional playoffs since 2007. That team was led by the likes of towering big men all 6-foot-6 or taller in Denzel Bowles (Texas A&M), DeVaughn Washington (Ohio) and Aaron Brackett. Their playoff run ended ironically enough in a 72-57 regional quarterfinal loss to Booker T. Washington, coached by Sanderlin.
"Basketball is universal. It's played the same way no matter where you go. It's about how you initialize the game," Sanderlin commented. "Certain things you have to do - you've got to get up and down the floor, defend, rebound and execute. If we can do those things on a consistent basis, that determines how good we're going to be."
Matthew Hatfield serves as Publisher for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a regular contributor to the ACC Sports Journal. 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 weeknights from 6-7 PM on The 757 at 6 as well as every Saturday at 10 AM to Noon on ESPN Radio 94.1.
