When Darrin Gray left Newton High School for Lake, Newton didn’t have to look far to find his replacement.
Newton turned back to its past and hired former coach Crandal Porter to take over Gray. Porter coached at Newton for x years before leaving to be the girls basketball coach at East Central. While at Newton, Porter delivered the only state championship for the Tigers, winning the 2008 2A state championship. Porter also won the 2A state championship with the girls in 2005 and 2010.
“After Darin left to go to Lake, I heard about him leaving and it was just a no brainer to me,” Porter said. “I had had some success there and Newton was just a good fit for me. I have always felt like Newton is where the good Lord wanted me to be. To be able to come back and be able to finish my career there, that’s something I am excited about.”
Porter said he will inherit a young but talented team that went 24-8 last year and lost in the third round of the Class 2A state playoffs to two-time defending champion Ca
“We are going to be young but there is talent there,” Porter said. “We have some young kids that I am excited about. Coach Gray and I play a different style sot it will take some time to adapt to what we are trying to do. I’m excited about what I see in the gym so far.”
Porter, who coached the boys at Seminary last season, will also be the athletics director as well.
“I still have my house in Newton so it was an easy decision coming back,” Porter said. “I had a good team coming back at Seminary but this was hard to pass up. I’ll be the athletic director as well and it was more money as well.”
Harden takes girls job
The Lady Tigers also have a new coach after Perry Fletcher left to take the boys job at Terry.
Newton turned to Meridian boys assistant Ty Harden.
“I actually sent in my resume and waited a few weeks and nobody got back with me so I just figured they went with somebody else,” Harden said. “They eventually called and I interviewed for the job. I went another couple of weeks and didn’t hear anything and thought they went with somebody else again. I was actually shocked when she gave me the opportunity to be the head coach.”
Harden has been an assistant at for the Meridian boys the last three years under veteran coach Ron Norman. The Wildcats have played for the Class 6A state championship the last three years, winning to two years ago. He was also an assistant at Northeast Lauderdale for one year after graduating from Mississippi State. Harden played his high school basketball at West Lauderdale and played for two years at East Mississippi before getting his degree in secondary education at MSU.
Harden said he’s excited about the opportunity, despite what some people are telling him.
“I got a lot of phone calls from coaches telling me how much Newton had lost and they were going to be down,” Harden said. “All I know is Newton is a place that has a rich tradition and is always going to have talent. They are a group of kids that know how to work and that’s something I appreciate. I want people to know that Newton is a team that will get down and guard you and play hard. Yes, we are going to be young but we have some talent coming back and I’m excited about being at Newton.”
Harden said the team will play a full summer schedule of games this year and he will do some individual workouts in July.
