An alum of Tallwood High School will be the new Head Boys Basketball Coach. Bryce Mitchell was introduced at the helm of the Lions on Thursday afternoon.

Mitchell spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Tallwood to Head Coach Tom Gunsalus, who announced his retirement following the 2018-19 campaign.

"It means a lot to me to be at Tallwood High School. I honestly did not envision myself anywhere else. To become a Head Coach is something I've wanted to do for a while now," said Mitchell, who graduated from the Virginia Beach program in 2010.

As a player at Tallwood, Mitchell's senior year came in the midst of a stretch of three straight 20-win seasons for the Lions. There were some memorable performances, such as when he scored 26 points on 12-of-15 shooting in a 59-42 victory over Forest Park in the 2010 VirginiaPreps.com Classic. Only 13 players have scored more in the 11-year history of the event.

In college, Mitchell played at Shenandoah College, where he graduated in 2014. From there, he coached at Daniel Morgan Middle School and joined the staff at John Handley High School.

"Being at Handley High School and able to compete in State's a few years ago under Jason Toton, then being down here with Coach Gunsalus the last couple years were great learning experiences for me," added Mitchell.

"I know I'm young, but those experiences taught me a lot. I want to create a new culture for our program at Tallwood."

A native of New York, Gunsalus spent 38 years on the sidelines - 26 at the High School level and 12 with Middle School. He went 194-124 in 13 seasons as Tallwood's Head Coach. Before coming to Tallwood, he served as an assistant at Salem, helping the Sun Devils win the AAA State Championship in 2000-01 under Bill Cochrane.

"Definitely winning the state (title) was a special moment. Being on that staff at Salem that won seven consecutive (district crowns) and apart of that process was a highlight, too," reflected Gunsalus on his coaching career.

"At Tallwood, coming in here to develop your own program and enjoy quite a bit of success meant a great deal as well. Until this past year, we regularly were over .500 and won more than 70% of our games quite a few times."

Ironically, the final season for Gunsalus came with John Gilchrist - the former AAA State Player of the Year who went on to earn ACC Tournament MVP honors at Maryland - on his coaching staff, making things come full circle a bit. The past couple years for Gunsalus have been more difficult off the court than on the hardwood. His grandson was born premature and with complications.

"Last winter he had a tough stretch where he got pneumonia a couple times and it almost took his life. So this past spring, I really couldn't be involved with the team the way I felt I needed to and started to have thoughts about stepping aside. I decided to stick it out one more year," Gunsalus noted.

"I made the decision internally in the Fall that this would be the final campaign. I tried to keep it quiet because I didn't want any attention brought to me or the retirement so that we would focus on the season and what we could to be successful. I'm at peace with it all. Now I can devote more time to my family, be there for them and be able to take care of their needs."

The Lions opened 0-5 last season before winning nine of their next 15 games. They finished 9-13 overall, marking the program's most losses since a 5-14 finish in 2001-02.

Three of past five seasons for Tallwood ended in losses to Landstown, the 2018-19 State Champs at the Class 6 level. Two of those defeats were in the Coastal Conference 1 Tournament semifinals; 65-63 in 2016 and 67-61 in overtime the following year.

Mitchell is not running away from setting the bar high in a city where four different schools have reached the State Tournament over the last two years.

"The first thing I plan on doing is setting clear-cut standards for our guys, but also dial into the old-school, being disciplined and maintaining a hardworking approach. It's about getting our guys to understand that if we follow through with these standards, we'll be able to develop a consistent winning culture that we can build on in the program," Mitchell commented.

"I expect this to be a process and not for it to happen overnight. We have some decent guys coming back. The Beach District is going to be competitive next year like it always is. The ultimate goal is to win games and win a State Championship at Tallwood High School. It might not happen next year. It might not happen the year after that. But the program will definitely look different and we will be on the up and up soon."

Tallwood made the Eastern Region Tournament seven straight seasons from 2004-05 to 2010-11. They were upset as #2 seed by #7 seed Bayside in 2012 Beach Tournament quarters. Their 2005-06 team under Matt Myint went 27-3 overall, including a perfect 18-0 in Beach District play, on their way to capturing the Eastern Region AAA Tournament title. It was their only trip to the State Tournament to date, falling in double-overtime to Scottie Reynolds-led Herndon, 72-70, in the State Semis.

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.