pnj
How new area boys basketball coaches are handling the offseason Nearly half the area programs will have new faces leading the way this winter.
- Seven local high school boys basketball teams will be led by first-year coaches this upcoming season.
- Offseason practices and summer leagues are underway as teams build a foundation for the winter.
- New coaches are focused on establishing culture, fundamentals, and discipline within their programs.
- Soundside High School is a new program starting with only junior varsity and freshman teams this year.
Well into the offseason, local high school boys basketball teams are in the lab.
School is out, which means plenty of time for practice, team camps and summer league games.
As coaches are fond of saying, offseason work, not what teams do once the season begins, determines what will happen this winter.
This is when teams set a foundation, which is especially important for the seven area first-year coaches.
The PNJ caught up with five at a Northwest Florida High School summer basketball event on June 25, which was hosted at Pensacola Catholic by Crusaders head coach Mike Dimick and former Milton boys basketball head coach Joey Nieves.
Local junior varsity squads participated.
The two other new coaches, Terrance Beasley (West Florida) and Tommie Posey (Pine Forest), had JV teams there but did not attend.
Todd Arasmith, Soundside Arasmith describes his first couple months leading the brand new program as a marathon, not a sprint.
With Soundside opening this fall, Arasmith didnt know exactly what he was working with until summer practices began.
You knew some of the middle school kids were coming, but I didnt know who was coming from their (ninth) grade class, Arasmith said.
A little bit behind some of the other programs, but thats expected.
Arasmith spent the previous year as the Navarre boys coach, leading the Raiders to a 10-15 record last year.
Before that, he was an assistant coach at Gulf Breeze.
He decided to move west down Highway 98 because his daughter Audrey, will be attending Soundside and to reunite with principal Kasie Windfelder, who held the same position at Navarre.
The Hurricanes will only have junior varsity and freshman teams this year, with the plan to play a varsity schedule in 2027-28.
Soundside will open with only freshmen and sophomores this fall, adding a grade the next two seasons.
For Arasmith, that means its time to experiment and develop a program from the ground up.
He has his non-negotiables but is willing to adapt to players strengths too.
Arasmith puts a premium on defense, though switched to a zone in the summer which led to success.
He also wants his teams to own the glass and limit turnovers.
It led to a slogan at Navarre of guard, value, board, which the current Raiders coaching staff was wearing on shirts last week.
It led to some success this summer, despite never playing together before.
No one hangs a banner for what you do in the summer, Arasmith said.
But it gave our kids some confidence that they could play with anybody.
Greg Boozer, Navarre Boozer is getting his shot to be the main voice in the locker room after serving as an assistant for five coaches over the last 10 seasons.
He previously coached the Navarre girls team for seven seasons.
Ive had a lot of time to think about it, especially the last 10 years in particular, Boozer said.
I had a lot things in my mind about what I might want to do with the program.
Boozers goal for the Raiders is to be the best in everything, whether in the classroom or on the court.
He wants the players to be positive role models in the community, holding each other accountable while pushing each other to improve.
Yes, its only the summer, but Boozers encouraged by what hes seen so far.
Ive seen so much maturity from these guys, Boozer said.
Theyre recognizing opportunities for themselves and for their teammates.
But theyre also seeing hey I made a mistake and theyre starting to accept responsibility for that mistake and a way to correct it in the future.
Fletcher Forte, Escambia Forte is no stranger to local hoops.
A 1982 Pensacola Catholic graduate, he helped found Pensacola Elite.
His daughter LaDeyah, played in three Final Fours at Pensacola before playing college basketball at Colorado State, Jacksonville and Texas Southern and spending time on the coaching staffs at UMBC and Houston.
The elder Forte joined the coaching staff at Escambia last year after previously assisting PHS boys basketball coach Terrence Harris.
After leading the Gators freshman team to a county championship last year, hes taking over the varsity squad.
Forte is trying to continue the culture change that then-head coach Cameron Welch started last year.
Escambia went just 2-18 and has just one winning season in the last decade.
Were teaching the fundamentals of the game, Forte said.
Once we start the fundamentals, we get the wins.
Forte is excited about some of the young players coming through the program and believes they just need to show some flashes of success to get the community excited again.
To get there, he wants his player to know hell coach them hard because he cares and will give the same effort he demands of them every day.
They gotta see the enthusiasm in me, how hard I work, Forte said.
So thats why I havent missed a game this summer.
Ive been at every game and washed all the uniforms the same.
Kelvin Lee, Pace No matter where Lee has been in a long coaching career, hes changed the culture.
Pace, coming off a 2-22 season, is his next rebuild project.
Its going to be hard, Lee said.
Its going to be different.
I always tell them the quicker they buy into what were doing the better well be.
The Crestview alum was initially set to return to coach his alma mater last year, but stepped away last summer to take a year off from coaching.
He heard from a friend, former Milton athletic director Murray Rutledge, that Pace was open.
Though hes only been on the job for a month, he wants to live up to the standard set by some of the schools top programs.
Football team has been good over the years, Lee said.
Baseball has been really good, softball (too).
All of a sudden, basketball, only two wins? I dont understand that, but thats why Im here.
Lee has won over 500 games in his coaching career, most notably 282 in a 16-year tenure at Chaminade College Preparatory in St.
Louis.
There he led the program to the 2009 class AAAAAAA state title and coached future NBA All-Stars Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum and 12-year NBA veteran David Lee.
He wont have talent like that at Pace, but Lee will coach the same way he has everywhere else, emphasizing defense first and practice, practice and more practice as the best way to develop and improve.
July is really when I make myself available for my boys, Lee said.
And were getting in the lab to just work on development.
Ralph Mims, L.E.A.D.
Academy Mims helped the Lions girls team make history last year.
They went 19-2, winning their first FHSAA district title and advancing to the Region 1-1A final in their first ever state playoff appearance.
He moves over to the boys team to take over a program that also made its first ever FHSAA state playoff appearance last season.
Winning is hard, but winning is fun, Mims said.
Just trying to get everybody on one accord, even the girls, the JV boys, the varsity boys and getting them to understand that the winning culture is everybody has got to be on one accord.
Mims son, Kyran, is currently in middle school and he wants to be able to coach his son.
Thats meant a bit of an adjustment.
According to Mims, girls generally listen better and can implement concepts quickly.
Boys need to hear something a few times before it sinks in.
After the Lions lost to Central at last weeks event, Mims talked with his middle school squad that just played for much of the first half of the next game.
The goal is to build a disciplined squad on the court and help point kids in the right direction off the court.
I feel like if we do those things, everything else that comes out of that, winning becomes a part of that, Mims said.