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Hite Steps Down at Petersburg

"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Following a stunning 76-70 loss in the Conference 26
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Tournament quarterfinals to a Hopewell team that they had beaten three previous
times this season, the Petersburg Crimson Wave received even more shocking news
when Head Coach Rick Hite decided to
step down after three seasons on the sidelines for one of the state's most successful
High School Basketball programs.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Hite, 40, fully anticipates on coaching again.
style=> Where that will be at this point remains to
be seen.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I've had a few different career situations come my way
and wanted to wait it out. Going into this
year, I was going to go through the season, see how things go, but my mind was
kind of already made up, probably months ago, that this would be my last [season]
here. It wasn't that hard of a decision
based on me," he told VirginiaPreps.com.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I appreciate Petersburg.
style=> For me, I aspire to be so much more and felt
like there's so much more for me to accomplish.
I believe in what I do, what I bring and felt it was time to tackle that
next hurdle."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Hired in October of 2011, Hite replaced
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Bill Lawson III, now the school's
Athletic Director. Lawson III led Petersburg
to four consecutive trips to the State Tournament from 2007-10.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Hite grew up in north Philadelphia, scoring over 1100
points in his career at George Washington High School.
style=> After that, he went on to the junior college
ranks and transferred to San Jose State.
He capped his playing career professionally overseas in Australia and
England.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>When his playing days were over, it didn't take long
for Hite to jump into coaching. He spent
eight years at Collegiate in Richmond, serving an assistant coach for
basketball, baseball and football.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>For the second year in a row, Petersburg missed the
regional playoffs as they were eliminated in the Central District Tournament by
#7 seed Prince George a season ago. Hite
insists that the unexpected loss to Hopewell had no impact on his decision.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I said this to my family and to my coaches that
whenever the run ends, it was going to end.
Whether it was last night or March 13th, it was going to be it," Hite
stated. "People might think the decision
was based on the loss, but I've lost before.
It was a decision based on wanting more.
Wanting more for my career and for my family, and there was no need to
prolong it here."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Despite a pair of playoff exits earlier than Crimson
Wave fans are accustomed to, Hite compiled a more than respectable 59-18 record
in three seasons at the helm. His tenure
was highlighted by a 2010 campaign where they went 29-2 overall, won the
Central Region Tournament and made it to the AAA State Championship before
falling to Hampton, 64-51. That team was
led by current Kansas University freshman guard
normal'>Frank Mason, certainly at or near the top of the talented athletes
Hite has coached.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It was a good three years at Petersburg.
style=> We had some good wins, did some great things,
had some tough losses, but that's High School sports.
style=> Traditionally, Petersburg has good talent and
I've heard that some people don't envy me because it's a tough place," Hite
went on to say.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Sometimes people look at it in a negative way and I can
tell you it makes it a lot harder than being in other places.
style=> The kids and environment are tougher than
some other places, but I enjoyed it. The
community was awesome, the players gave me everything and I have no regrets."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The Petersburg program was hit extremely hard by
graduation following the 2011-12 campaign, and Hite admits it hasn't been an
easy task to replenish that talent.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I look around and am like, 'Wow, where did all the
class=SpellE>bigs go? Where did
all the athleticism go? Did I run them
away?' But it was fun," he continued.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We were still a factor.
style=> I attribute that to hard work and dedication
by those kids and those coaches. They
didn't want to let the Petersburg tradition go away.
style=> We've lost early on the last couple years,
but I've also had some people tell me they don't know how we were still able to
be a factor with the talent drop-off the last couple of years."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Petersburg hasn't won a state title since 1974 when
Moses Malone starred there. They've
lost in the state title game five times since then - - 1978, 1985, 1989, 2010
and 2012. The Crimson Wave now begin
their search for someone that can try to bring them one, while Hite moves on to
the next chapter in his coaching career.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I'm going to sift through some things.
style=> I want to increase the options and see what
it does for me and my family at this time," Hite added.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Anybody that knows me knows that I'm a coach at
heart. This is what I do and I try to
help young guys reach their goals and dream, and hope to continue to do that.
style=> It's just going to be at another stop,
whether it's High School, college, professional or somewhere.
style=> I want to help somebody."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'> 
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>Matthew Hatfield
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>
serves as State Basketball Analyst for
href="http://www.virginiapreps.com">
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>VirginiaPreps.com
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>, part of the Rivals.com
Network. Check out
href="http://www.twitter.com/hatfieldsports">
normal'>
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>Hatfield's Twitter page
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> for more sports related updates,
and you can also read his work in the
href="http://www.suffolknewsherald.com">
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>Suffolk News Herald
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>.
To contact Matthew, please e-mail
href="mailto:hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com">
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>, and don't forget to listen to him
every Saturday at 10AM on
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115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>ESPN Radio 94.1
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>,
plus watch him on the
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115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>Cox 11 Sports Report
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>.
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