It was 11 years ago and seems as fresh as it was yesterday. Brandon Plummer was a senior basketball player at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk and his Bookers, then at the time coming off a loss to a Wilson team in last place of the Eastern District, trailed city rival Maury by 11 points with less than 4:30 to play.
Plummer and his teammates never lost faith though, and they put forth a remarkable rally to edge the Commodores, 49-47. It was one of the defining victories during the team's run to a Group AAA State Championship.
Little did Plummer or anyone know at that time that he would one day be coaching the other team.
On Thursday, Plummer became the new Head Boys Basketball Coach at Maury. He follows Jack Baker, who announced his retirement last month after a 41-year career and 746 victories - third most in VHSL history (see more on that here). Baker previously endorsed Plummer as the
"It feels great. To be able to come behind a Hall of Fame Coach in my eyes, it's truly a blessing," Plummer told VirginiaPreps.com.
"I never thought I'd be going to a rival school. For Coach Baker to want me to take over his position, being that I'm a real Booker - a diehard Booker - and have that trust, belief and see something in me, it's really an honor."
During his senior year with the Bookers in 2005-06, Plummer averaged 13.7 points, five rebounds and three steals per game while shooting 86% from the foul line and 57% from the field. He was a Second Team All-Eastern Region and First Team All-Eastern District performer while playing in a stellar backcourt that also featured talented guards Antoine Perry, David Saunders and James Vann.
In college, Plummer played at Norfolk State and Virginia State as well as Wingate, where he helped them capture a conference title and reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
This past year, Plummer was an assistant coach with Baker after spending the previous four years as an assistant and Head J.V. Coach at his alma mater under Darren Sanderlin, who he played for at Booker T. Washington.
"Coach Sanderlin groomed me well, not only for basketball, but growing up in life and learning to be a man," Plummer said of his influence. "The main thing I've learned is you've got to put your work in each and every day. Regardless of what you do or the choices that you make, there are going to be consequences behind it."
Plummer, 29, graduated from Virginia State and majored in biology there. He's well aware that there will be some skeptics about his age in following Baker.
But Baker was even younger than Plummer - 25 - when he replaced his mentor, Ted Bacalis, as Head Coach. Bacalis was 296-96 in 18 seasons at the helm before Baker took over.
"I know I've got some big shoes to fill. Coach Baker did it for 40-plus years and I'm not even 40 years old," Plummer acknowledged.
"I know the blueprint. I'm going to try to stick how the program has been built, including his pressing defense. We're going to get that ball up and down the floor and we're going to share that basketball."
Four starters - Chase Coleman, Bryan Phillips, Matthew Mensia and Jason Price - are slated to return for Plummer and the Commodores from a squad that finished 18-6 overall and won the Atlantic Conference 9 regular season title. They ended up a win shy of reaching the State Playoffs, bowing out to Hampton 63-49 in the opening round of the 5A-South Region Tournament.
"We've got a pretty good group coming back and there are some things we've got to emphasize and work on to make our program a whole lot better.
"It's not about getting on the basketball court and I'm going to get mine. They've got to learn to play this game the right way because that's how we were successful this past year. I don't think a lot of people expected us to go as far as we did or to win the conference."
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 every Saturday at 10AM on ESPN Radio 94.1.
