Former Memphis basketball star Willie Kemp named Whitehaven boys basketball coach

Willie Kemp was already familiar with the high school basketball scene in Memphis. When the opportunity came to leave LeMoyne-Owen for a high school job, Whitehaven was the perfect fit for him.  

Kemp accepted the job as Whitehaven boys basketball coach Wednesday morning, replacing legendary coach Fred Horton, who took over the Whitehaven basketball program in 2019.  

“I felt if I was going to (leave) the collegiate level, I was going to go to a high school that’s going to compete,” Kemp said. “To win state championships and compete on a nightly basis where kids will want to come and parents will want their kids to come.” 

Kemp was an assistant coach with Bonzi Wells at LeMoyne-Owen College. Before that he was a graduate assistant coach with Penny Hardaway at Memphis. He starred at Memphis from 2006-2010, including playing on the 2008 team that lost to Kansas in the national championship. He played high school basketball at Bolivar Central. 

He added a big reason he took the Whitehaven job was because he wanted a team that would compete at a high level.  

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL RANKINGS:Memphis area rankings: Overton tops final boys basketball polls after winning state title

BRINGING HOME GOLD:'I did it pops, just like you': Jordan Frison delivers Overton basketball first gold ball

"Just being at Whitehaven, of course everybody is going to put their big-boy shoes on when they’re coming to play Whitehaven,” Kemp said. “I feel like we wouldn’t want it no other way.” 

Kemp replaces Horton, who won more than 700 games and is the third-winningest coach in Shelby County history. Horton led Whitehaven to the Region 8-4A semifinals this season, falling to Memphis East, 79-48. The Tigers haven’t been to the state tournament since the 2019-20 season, when it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to compete with the best of the best in the city of Memphis,” Kemp said. “We’re going to find some teams outside of Memphis that we can compete with.  

“We want it.” 

Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on Twitter @wynstonw__.