After three years, two title game appearances and one state championship at Kemper County, John Darnell is headed out of town.
Darnell recently stepped down as head boys’ basketball coach at Kemper County to take the same position at Lake.
Darnell will take over for Eddie Wade, who is moving to coach the girls team at Lake. Former girls coach Kotreece Bender left to take the girls job at Petal.
For Darnell, the move to Lake happened quickly.
“I know it’s surprising to a lot of people,” Darnell said. “I was at Kemper and I was looking around to see what was out there. I got word that Lake was looking for a coach and I reached out and it just kind of happened. It happened pretty quick. I’m excited about the opportunity. We started practicing on Wednesday. We have a long way to go and I’m excited about the opportunity.”
Darnell leaves one of the state’s perennial powerhouses in Kemper to come to Lake. The Wildcats have played for the Class 3A state championship the last two seasons and were state champs in 2016. Kemper lost 44-40 to Velma Jackson in last year’s 3A title game.
“It was tough, leaving Kemper County,” said Darnell, who is a Kemper County native. “I do think that Kemper will be back challenging for a state championship again in a couple of years. When you coach at Kemper, you expect to be in Jackson. There is a good core of kids coming back at Kemper. It was a tough decision with Kemper being my home town. But it’s not all about basketball when you change jobs. I am disappointed about the way things ended.”
Despite the lack of success at Lake in boys basketball in recent years, Darnell is certain that he can turn Lake into a winner.
“There has always been good basketball in Scott County at Morton and Forest and there’s no reason why it can’t be that way at Lake,” Darnell said. “Lake is a great school and I have enjoyed my three days there. I told them this week that they have to believe in themselves, that if they work hard, good things will happen.”
Darnell said he will be practicing Monday through Thursday during the month of June from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
“I’ve been impressed so far,” Darnell said. “We have had about 15 show up to practice after lunch. Most of them go to football in the morning and then come to basketball after lunch. We have about eight or nine freshman so I’m a little worried about depth on the high school team. I’m talking to three or four more kids and hoping they will play.
“I think the No. 1 thing right now is to get to know the boys and their strengths and weaknesses. They have been dedicated and seem to care. We have to work on skills and get them up to par to be able to compete. I don’t know a lot about 2A but our main goal is to compete for a district championship. And from what I’ve seen, I don’t know why we can’t compete for a district championship at Lake.”
But Darnell acknowledges that that won’t happen overnight.
“You have to get them in the gym and work at it every day,” Darnell said. “These things don’t happen overnight. You just want to get better every day and I thought we have gotten better each day we have been in the gym so far. There is no magic potion for success. You have to develop players. I tell them I’m looking for three things. They have to be dedicated, have the right attitude and be willing to sacrifice for the team. We are going to work at it and get them to believe in themselves. All I really want them to do is compete. Once they do that, good things will happen.”
