Coach Howard Pride has been selected as the head boys basketball coach at East Hamilton High School. Coach Pride was a three sport athlete at Butler High School in Huntsville, focusing on baseball, football and basketball. Following his high school graduation, Alabama’s 1993 Mr. Basketball became a scholarship basketball guard for Vanderbilt University, declining being drafted by the California Angels. While at Vanderbilt, Coach Pride was a multi-year starter and team captain for the Commodores and was named to the SEC All-Academic Team.
Following his stint at Vanderbilt, he focused on developing basketball players and programs both at the high school and collegiate levels throughout Alabama and Tennessee. At the collegiate-level, he served as an assistant coach at TSU, Howard University and Belmont and as a director of basketball operations at UAB. At the high school level, Coach Pride has been the head coach of several programs, with the most recent being at Stewarts Creek High School in Smyrna, Tn. and Mae Jemison High School in Huntsville.
Coach Pride said of the opportunity, “I am extremely honored and humbled by this incredible opportunity to be named head boys basketball coach at East Hamilton. I want to thank Mr. Eller and Mr. Booker for the appointment. I cannot wait to get to work with the student-athletes and serve this wonderful community.”
Brent Eller, principal of East Hamilton, said of Coach Pride, "He is a natural leader and passionate about the development of young men. From our initial conversation, Coach Pride showed that he accompanies his wealth of experience with a humble presence. Within minutes of meeting prospective East Hamilton players, Coach Pride won them over; the players commented on Coach Pride’s vision, intensity and what he had accomplished both on-and-off the court."
Keitha Booker, assistant principal, and Eric Mountain, athletic director, commented that Coach Pride is the ideal person to lead basketball operations at East Hamilton, saying "As a head coach, he knows the right balance between being a player’s coach and instructing the game through fundamentals." They believe that throughout the interview process it became increasingly clear that Coach Pride would bring to bear his wealth of talent and experience becoming "THE coach" to elevate boys basketball at East Hamilton to the next level.
Coach Pride holds a bachelor of arts in human organizational development from Vanderbilt University and a master of arts in teaching from Trevecca Nazarene University.