Portland boys coach Joshua Epperson steps down to take Trevecca women's assistant job
Portland High School will have its third head boys basketball coach in three years after Joshua Epperson stepped down to take a women’s basketball assistant position at Trevecca Nazarene University.
“We appreciate all Coach Epperson has done over the past year for our basketball program.,” Portland High School principal David Woods said. “This is an opportunity that just came up out of the blue and he felt like he had to give it a shot. As a 20-year basketball coach myself, I totally understand. Not many high school coaches get a shot to coach college at any level.”
Woods said he’d like to have a head coach in place prior to the beginning of summer camps.
Epperson was hired in June to replace Chris Carney, who had taken the boys’ head coaching position at Wilson Central.
“This is a great opportunity for me and my family to get to coach at the college level,” Epperson said. “I was a graduate assistant at Lubbock Christian University over 10 years ago, and have looked forward to the day that I could get back to the college level.
“Not only is it a chance to coach at the college level, but a chance to work with a great coach as well in Chad Hibdon. He is a great coach and an even better person. I believe deeply in what he is doing at Trevecca and the leadership he is providing to the program there.”
Portland went 4-24 in Epperson’s lone season with the Panthers, but Epperson said he hopes to have helped planted seeds for the program’s growth. He started a youth basketball program in the area.
“We have done a great deal of work in this first year with the program,” Epperson said. “I am proud of the work we put into starting up a youth league for the Portland area, and I hope the league continues next year and continues to grow.
“We had a young team with 95 percent of the scoring coming back next year. The team was coming together late in the year, as we beat Hendersonville towards the end of the season, which bodes well for what they can do next year.”
Portland has not won a postseason game since the 2003-04 season, when the Panthers advanced to the Class AA sectional round.
Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or 615-575-7118 and on Twitter @CBrooksTN.