South Gibson's Mark Wilkins is 2018 All-West Tennessee boys basketball coach of the year

Three years ago when Mark Wilkins took over the South Gibson boys basketball program, he came in with the mindset of building a program and a new culture for the Hornets.

Wilkins and South Gibson took a big step toward that this season as the Hornets picked up their first region tournament win, advanced to their first region championship game and earned their  first sectional berth.

Wilkins is the 2018 All-West Tennessee boys basketball coach of the year.

He is one of four Wilkins coaches in West Tennessee, led by father Mitch Wilkins who has more than 800 wins.

"You look back at what my dad especially has been able to do, and that is to have continued success," Mark Wilkins said. "He challenged all of us to do that as well. So I would be ignorant to think that all of this success was because of me. I have an administration that supports these athletic programs, and I know that without the Lord, I wouldn't have been given this chance."

This year's 24-11 record was much improved over the 10-16 and 13-14 records of the past two years.

"This team had a lot of belief from the very beginning," Wilkins said. "Through the ebbs and flows of the season, there were times when we did not play well, but the guys kept believing that we could compete with people in our district. Hopefully, that is something that stays in our culture."

The turning point came with the start of District 13-AA play, as the Hornets were coming off a Christmas tournament where they went 1-2 with losses to Camden and Riverside.

"I didn't think that we were the type of team to lose two of three games at Huntingdon over Christmas," Wilkins said. "But coming into the district schedule, we were able to compete with some of the opponents that we hadn't competed with in years past like Dyersburg and Crockett County."

So can this program continue to find its way to the top?

"It might be a little difficult to try and continue the success moving forward because we won't be able to use the underdog card as much," Wilkins said. "There have to be things that go your way like being injury-free. We have kids that want to make history, and being a new school, we can make history. So yes, we can. We have to continue to get after it and continue to work."

Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.