CINCINNATI — Derrell Black was named the Hughes High School boys basketball coach Monday morning.
Black, a longtime Hughes assistant coach, is a 2009 Hughes graduate. He succeeds former Big Red coach Bryant Wyant, who was named the Princeton head coach in late April.
"This program has been very successful over the years and I want to make sure that the standards and expectations remain just as high," Black said.
"I want to make sure that I am really influencing the winning culture that has been established both on and off the court. This summer I plan to keep the guys close, build chemistry, get the young guys involved and build up leadership skills from my upperclassmen."
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Hughes has had 20 or more wins in the past four consecutive seasons. The Big Red (20-6) was a Division II district runner-up this past season.
"Derrell has been an assistant under Wyant for the past eight years," Hughes athletic director Andrew Mueller said. "He knows what success looks like and how to replicate it. With him being a Hughes grad he understands what it is to be a Hughes basketball player. He has been where our kids have been; he knows what it takes to be Hughes tough."
Wyant said Black was a "tremendous" assistant coach the past eight years.
"He was the glue for our program," Wyant said. "A guy that played for me my first year and came back after he finished his education to give back to his alma mater. He brings consistency, toughness, basketball IQ and will continue the culture and tradition that we built at Hughes."
Black played basketball all four years at Hughes including two varsity seasons. He later played at Trine University, an NCAA Division III program in Angola, Ind.
Black has played and coached on every level of Hughes basketball from the freshman to varsity levels, so he said becoming the varsity head coach is a natural progression and one that he is greatly anticipating.
"What I am looking forward to the most is continuing a greatly established program where we can continue to build up great young men to do great things and achieve their goals," Black said. "Becoming the head coach at Hughes was something that was never on my radar because I thought Coach Wyant would be here forever; however once the job opened up it was something that I really wanted to go after."
Mueller said between emailed resumes and online applications Hughes had 32 applicants overall. Black had a vision for the program and was very impressive during the interview process, Mueller said.
"I would say the passion and fire in his voice made him stand out," Mueller said. "You could tell that he wants to continue what we have done at Hughes during Bryan Wyant's tenure as coach. You could tell that he is passionate about more than just basketball, he wants to make relationships with our athletes that go beyond the four years they're at Hughes."
