John Darnell may not be changing addresses but he’s getting closer to home.
Darnell was recently approved as the new boys’ basketball coach at Union, where he replaces Marcus Luckett who left to take the boys job at Northwest Rankin.
Darnell spent one year at Lake before taking the job at Union.
“I’m really excited about it,” Darnell said. “I really enjoyed my year at Lake, but in the end, it was an opportunity to get closer to home. I had already signed my contract at Lake and was planning on coming back. Then all of this came up at the last minute. I prayed about it a couple of nights and felt like I was being pulled towards Union.”
Besides being closer to his home in Kemper County, Darnell said there were a lot of positives about Union.
“Union is a great school with a great administration,” Darnell said. “I had to play against them three times last year and got to see what kind of talent they had up close. I thought it presented a good future. The drive to Lake wasn’t terrible but I just thought it would be better for me and my family.”
Darnell was board approved last week and had his first team meeting on Wednesday. The Yellowjackets played their first game under Darnell on Monday and grabbed a win over Newton County.
“I have high expectations for this group,” Darnell said. “We have a good nucleus of players coming back. Coach Luckett did a good job with them the last three years and left a good team here. I think if will come in here and work hard, we’ve got a chance.”
Darnell said he thinks the Yellowjackets have a chance to compete in Division 4-2A next year.
“If we can become a mentally tough team, I think we have a chance to compete for the division title next year,” Darnell said. “Newton is always good and Philadelphia won the division last year but we have a good group coming back. We have to build some depth this summer. It’s a tough, competitive district but I think we can compete. And we have a good group of eighth and ninth graders moving up so the future looks really good.”
Darnell is one year removed from a successful stint of the state’s perennial powerhouses in Kemper County. 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 the 2017 3A title game.
