ALL-AREA: Goldsboro's Stephens named coach-of-the-year

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on April 15, 2016 1:48 PM

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Sayings originate from all parts of the world.

Some stick.

Some fade away.

But one adage stuck with the Goldsboro community -- with the help of none other than the Goldsboro High varsity boys' basketball team and head coach Russell Stephens.

"Along the way, we picked up a lot of things from sayings from our team," Stephens said. "We had this one saying, 'On my mama, we're gonna play hard'. That kind of carried us over the top in a couple of games. It actually had coaches throughout the state giving me a call saying, 'hey Coach Stephens, on my mama, are y'all going to win tonight?'"

And the Cougars won -- a lot.

So here the saying goes with a twist.

"On my mama, Stephens coaches hard."

Goldsboro won 24 games, knocked off four-time defending 2-A state champion Kinston -- twice -- and earned a share of the Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference regular-season title. The Cougars exhibited Stephens' demeanor, professionalism and positive attitude -- which earned respect from other teams and fans -- each time they stepped onto the court this season.

Stephens loves Goldsboro -- basketball and the city.

"It just says a lot about our program," said Stephens, who has been selected as the 2015-16 News-Argus All-Area Boys' Basketball Coach-of-the-Year.

"We enjoy the awards that we are getting, but it's definitely about the team and which direction the program is going. We think it's going in a positive direction."

His positive outlook and toughness on the sideline makes Stephens a remarkable coach among his peers. He previously coached at Southern Wayne and turned it into a winning program with the same philosophy that he carried to Goldsboro in 2012 -- the year his current group of seniors walked through the school doors as freshmen.

The Cougars dominated county foes during the early part of the season that led to a 13-game win streak, which ended Jan. 18 against Hillsborough Orange.

Stephens' team didn't quit.

"It's a special team," he said. "Coming into the season, one thing that we knew we could do was play fast and play hard, and that carried on the whole season. Every time we put kids on the court, we didn't have a slacker."

Goldsboro regained its rhythm and eventually knocked Kinston out of the playoffs. But the momentum ended two days later with a season-ending loss at Fairmont.

The Tornadoes won 77-63.

"We knew going in it, it was going to be a tough game," Stephens said. "You hate to end your season when you don't play your best game. I don't think we played our best game. That third quarter down there, and you can credit Fairmont for having a great game plan, but there were some points we didn't cash in on. We didn't execute very well.

"Looking back on it, as a coach you always look back, 'what's the things you could have done different? Maybe we could have slowed the ball down. Maybe we could have done this, maybe we could have did that'."

Though the season is done, Stephens describes his team as a train that is rolling and fueled by the anticipation of next year's senior class. A new group sits, ready to step into the roles left by seven seniors -- Myron Carmon, Kisheem Faison, Nakia Atkins, Jaylin Thomas, Eric Bufkin, Joshua Best and Jyrek Robinson.

"It's up to the Tyzhaun Claudes, the Isaiah Wilders, the Jaryan Hargis, the Ronnie Tookes to push us for the next year," Stephens said, who believes his underclassmen and the new seniors can take the Cougars back to the playoffs. "I truly believe for Goldsboro, the train is just start to get rolling."

On my mama.

(Editor's note: Junior Jamal "Beefy" Cox developed the saying. The team had T-shirts made and sold them with the proceeds going to the Special Olympics in Goldsboro. Stephens believes in giving back to the community and showing the leadership -- which are bigger wins in life than those experienced on the basketball court).