Portland tabs Darryl Travis as new boys basketball head coach
Portland High School needed only a week to find a new boys basketball head coach.
The school announced former Springfield head coach Darryl Travis as the Panthers’ next leader on Thursday.
“I coached basketball for 20 years, mostly in south central Kentucky, against (Travis),” Portland High school principal David Woods said. “When the job came open, I had one name in mind, and ironically he must have too, because we called each other almost the same day.”
Travis replaces Joshua Epperson, who stepped down last week to take an assistant coaching position with the Trevecca women’s basketball program. Portland went 4-24 in Epperson’s lone season with the Panthers.
“This was something that I had thought about before,” Travis said. “When the opportunity came along, I made a quick phone call. I think it’s a great opportunity to build something, to build some excitement in the program. I know (Woods) wants it to happen, and we’re going to work hard to make that happen.”
With the Panthers remaining in District 9-AAA next season, Travis will see teams he’s familiar with, having coached against them at Springfield the past two seasons. Springfield won the District 10-AAA regular season championship last season and reached the Region 5-AAA quarterfinals. The Yellow Jackets won the district tournament title in 2015-16 and reached the Region 5-AAA semifinals.
“Springfield’s in the same region, so I’m familiar with (District 9-AAA),” Travis said. “We played some of the teams that are in (9-AAA).”
Travis said he wants to have a defense-first mentality with smart shots at the offensive end.
“The thing that I want to instill and what I want (Portland) to do first, is defend and rebound,” Travis said. “Offensively, I want to be efficient. We have to take good shots, because that’s what we’ll have to do to win in this district.”
The Panthers have not won a postseason game since Corey Brewer’s senior year of 2003-04, when Portland reached the Class AA sectional round. Woods hopes that will change soon with Travis at the helm.
“I think, in my mind, that we’ve hit a home run with Coach Travis,” Woods said. “He’s a great man, a great teacher and a good friend of mine. He’s worked for some of the best coaches in the business, many of them state champions.”
Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or 615-575-7118 and on Twitter @CBrooksTN.