Coach Finishes Last Basketball Season

The boys’ basketball loss in the first round of the playoffs against Huntington February 19 officially stands as the end of the playoffs and the basketball season for the Eagles. This is also the official last game of retiring coach Joey Worley.

“We were second in district this year and last year we were fifth,” Worley said. “ I would consider this a great improvement considering the circumstances.”

Seniors Jordan Gibson, Jaise Oliver, Devin Cunningham, Kadarius Walker, D.J. Houston, Tonio Carter, Bubba Dixon, and McClinton Jones will graduate this year.

“It was great playing for coach Worley,” Gibson said. “I feel like he taught me a lot and really helped the team develop.”

The team for next year will have to account for these eight players lost as well as Worley, who will retire after this year.

“Coach Worley was a legendary coach,” junior DeQuann McWilliams said. “The basketball program won’t be the same without him. We didn’t play to the best of our abilities this year, so next year we need to play better as a team.”

Worley began at Fairfield as a JV basketball coach for 10 years and now has been head basketball coach for 20 years.

“I was greatly influenced by my high school coaches,” Worley said. “They were great men of character and taught me lots of things other than sports. I decided to become a coach myself so I could try to be like them.”

Worley has coached for 32 years, 30 of which were at Fairfield.

“I will miss the kids the most—watching them learn to work hard as a team to achieve a goal then achieve it,” Worley said. “The relationships [I] have with the players on [my] teams will be missed also.”