Matt Rigsby leaves Cannon County for Siegel

Cannon County's loss will be Siegel's gain.

The Lions are searching for a new boys basketball coach after Matt Rigsby recently stepped down to take an assistant boys position with the Stars.

"Honestly, it was about more home time with the family," said Rigsby, who was also the school's athletic director. "I'm going to put everything I have into the Siegel program, but there were too many responsibilities at Cannon County. I'm going to take a step back and just concentrate on basketball."

Cannon County is saddled with the task of replacing both a head coach and AD in a short amount of time.

Principal Mike Jones said a new coach was a priority and that the AD job probably would be filled internally. He is currently serving as the school's athletic director.

"We have interviews (Friday) ... we've had several people apply (for the boys basketball position)," Jones said. "At this time most of them are new. We're looking for somebody with a little bit of experience."

Rigsby is one of the winningest boys coaches in Cannon County history, taking the team to two sectional appearances in his nine years. He won 144 games during that stretch. The team struggled last season, however, going 4-23.

"I feel like I'm leaving the program in better shape than I found it," Rigsby said. "The junior pro program started and the middle school program (has done well).

"My only regret is not getting to the Glass House (MTSU's Murphy Center, home of the TSSAA state basketball tournaments)."

Added Jones: "We hope Matt does well. We hate to lose him. He did a really good job. Siegel is lucky."

Locals help team win YBOA national title

There were plenty of local ties on the Elite Amateur Basketball Club boys team that won a recent Youth Basketball of America national tournament.

The Tigers 2022 squad won the YBOA seventh-grade national tournament in Orlando.

The squad is coached by EAB founder Michael Couey, currently an assistant at Christ Presbyterian Academy. He is a former Oakland and Belmont standout and formerly was head coach of the La Vergne boys program.

His assistants have area ties. Smyrna Middle boys coach Bill Hockenberry is associate head coach of the team while Stewarts Creek Middle boys coach Jermaine Jackson and Murfreesboro's Ron Allen are also assistants.

The Tigers, who went 43-2 during the season, defeated MADE (Maryland) 46-26 in the semifinals before downing the Gulf Coast Stingrays (Florida) 64-34 in the championship game.

Central Magnet's Carrington Allen, Stewarts Creek's Bryce Jackson and Cannon County Westside's Gus Davenport are local members of the team. Allen won the scholar athlete award for having the highest grade-point average in the tournament.

Reach Cecil Joyce at cjoyce@dnj.com or 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Cecil_Joyce.