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High School Basketball Forum: Article from Tennessee about former Area SEMO Coach

Posted by CoachMathis44 on Mon, Dec 9, 2013, at 11:58 PM:

Dyer County's McCord reaches 500-win milestone

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Dyersburg State Gazette

DC head coach Derek McCord listens as referee Donnie Joyner explains a call.

[Click to enlarge]

Since arriving at Dyer County High School in 2006, head basketball coach Derek McCord has revived the Choctaw basketball program by leaps and bounds. McCord entered the scene on the heels of the program suffering through back-to-back 3-win seasons, promising loyal supporters of the program that better days were ahead.

McCord has lived up to his word and then some.

After a successful, 15-year career coaching high school basketball in Missouri, McCord left with an overall mark of 281-137 while coaching at both Scott City as well Cape Girardeau Central. When the eighth installment of his fast and furious Choctaw squads blew past USJ on Saturday at the Martin Thanksgiving Shootout, the win not only extended the current DC winning streak to seven games, it also marked the 500th victory of McCord's career.

DC head coach Derek McCord.

[Click to enlarge]

"I've been blessed by having some great players to coach and some quality assistant coaches through the years. I'm humbled by being able to reach 500 wins, I really am," said McCord. "It takes an entire program to win games and I've truly been blessed to have some great leadership teams that I'd say made this possible."

McCord's overall mark in Tennessee stands at 219-26. Over the past seven seasons, the head coach has received many individual honors including the A.F. Bridges Coach of the Year award for the 2008-09 season, and has been named the 13AA and 13AAA Coach of the Year as well.

McCord's teams have garnered a huge following of supporters due to the large amount of success since his arrival in Newbern. Yes, when it comes to Choctaw basketball, there has been plenty to cheer about. The McCord-led squads over the past seven seasons have won seven straight regular-season district titles, won four region titles and made three trips to the state tournament in the postseason. Last season, the Choctaws made it to the state championship game before falling to Southwind to finish runner-up.

The newest member of the 500-win club said winning starts at the top. During his coaching journey that has included just three stops along the way, McCord said he's been fortunate to have had supportive administrations along the way.

"To have a winning program in any sport it starts with the administration that hires you and I've been fortunate to work for some good people that have facilitated what we've tried to accomplish on the basketball court," stated McCord.

McCord comes from a coaching family with his father as well as two brothers in the coaching ranks, something he said turns family get-togethers into coaching clinics a lot of the time. "The first person I call when it comes to getting a second opinion when it comes to coaching is my dad, and he's always set me straight on what I need to do," said McCord.

Though McCord credits his family and different administrations for the support received during his 23-year career, his greatest support comes from home where his main team is in wife Shelby, as well as sons Marshall and J.D.

"I knew what I wanted to do early on and I couldn't do it without the support of my wife and kids," added McCord. "Basketball is my passion and my family knows that. They've always been so supportive of this journey and I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have them with me on this ride."

© Copyright 2013 Dyersburg State Gazette. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Replies (20)

  • I only met him once but knew immediately he was one of the greatest ever.

    -- Posted by Dustin Ward on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 12:12 AM
  • He coaches basketball all day long during school. They allow the kids to practice in the middle of school. He coaches the boys and the girls programs.

    -- Posted by Coach Horrell on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 12:41 AM
  • "One of the greatest ever". You are a few bricks shy of a load Dustin.

    -- Posted by Champ Kind on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 8:31 AM
  • Dustin...seriously? I hope you said that in jest.

    He is a good coach with a GREAT recruiting program. Just make a call to any of the other schools in the area and ask them what they think of him. Someone once told me about Coach McCord...and I quote..."He's the kind of guy to give you the shirt off his back, then call a press conference to let everyone know what he did."

    Don't give me the "they don't like him because he wins" nonsense either. If you ask other coaches about Coach Holifield, Coach Farmer, Coach Hale and others (I just thought of those off the top of my head), you will get nothing but positive responses on AND off the record. Why? Because they have done it the right way.

    -- Posted by Rocket689 on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 9:10 AM
  • Darnell Wilks conveniently followed him to Dyersburg from Cape Central

    -- Posted by Coach Horrell on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 9:14 AM
  • rocket is exactly right..Dustin doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. Rocket--I'm agreeing with you a lot lately but you definitely have this one right.

    -- Posted by crackerjack on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 9:30 AM
  • Darnell never went to dyer county.... He went to Nashville no where close to newbern.... Come on now get your facts straight.

    -- Posted by abcd on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 10:48 AM
  • Darnell Wilks did NOT follow McCord to Dyer County.

    -- Posted by gianthook on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 10:55 AM
  • He also said Mcbroom from Holcomb was a legend

    -- Posted by yaeger on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 11:38 AM
  • It wasn't Darnell but he did take his best player off his last Cape team with him. The kid's name is escaping me at the moment.

    -- Posted by Champ Kind on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 11:59 AM
  • Champ---It's Jawuan (sp) Bell...Best player on the team that was coming back.

    -- Posted by crackerjack on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 12:47 PM
  • Naw it wasn't Bell Bullet. Bell played for Cape as a Senior. Well kinda, he was in and out of trouble and on and off the team all year. The kid McCord took with him played the wing and was long and lanky and had dreads.

    -- Posted by Champ Kind on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 1:05 PM
  • The kid from Cape was named Kimble. Mom happened to get a nurses job in Dyer County of all places. McCord could really coach the game, but was difficult for officials, opposing coaches, and coaches in his own school to take. Pretty selfish about sharing athletes. I dont question his basketball knowledge and coaching practices and games, just think he was very shady with morals and ethics in regards to recruiting players at Scott City, Cape Central and Dyer County. These are well documented. Saw a Tenn. high school coach at a tournament a couple of years ago and asked him how McCord was doing and said he was doing very well with recruiting his players and was not a fan of his to say the least. He was very difficult to call for, alot of times you left the game with a bad taste in your moutth trying to keep a handle on him. JMO.

    -- Posted by semo ref on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 1:33 PM
  • Agreed, ref. That is exactly what I meant by my comment. He is a good coach....x's and o's. The rest....not so much.

    -- Posted by Rocket689 on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 2:09 PM
  • Thanks, bullet. I don't think many Missouri coaches "think highly" of him.

    Regarding ref's post....I'm sure it was just a coincidence that the kid's mom got a job in Dyer County. Ha!

    -- Posted by Rocket689 on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 2:11 PM
  • Best part about coaching at a county school in TN is any kid in the county can go to their school so recruiting is allowed... Can't be mad at doing what is allowed now...

    -- Posted by abcd on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 3:07 PM
  • He may abide by Tennessee rules, but that doesn't make opposing coaches and fans respect him. At Scott city the Jansen kid from Zalma transferred in for his senior year when his dad got a temporary "address" in Scott City and two kids from the AAU circuit transferred to Cape, one from St. Louis and one from Clarksville, Tenn. both kids were very good players but produced some baggage, one on a gun charge, the others mom got caught embezzling funds from a charity group. Just because you can coach doesn't mean you represent your school and community well

    -- Posted by semo ref on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 3:26 PM
  • I remember one year he had the best player (8th grader JH initials) from Gibson County. That year he also had arguably the best incoming freshman from Lauderdale Co.(Halls). The best 8th grader from Lake County also came. Four years ago he almost lured a Charleston kid who moved to Lake County in the 6th grade (ZC initials). He chose to stay and is a senior at Lake Co. now. There were great seasons in Dyer County's history under Butch Hopkins until he left. The words legend are mighty big words. He's not there, at least yet. The names mentioned in earlier posts are legends to me.

    -- Posted by coachinhoops on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 3:51 PM
  • He definitely was a great x and o's coach. He didn't care who liked him or who he made mad that's for sure. He wasn't my favorite

    I never understood why he didn't take his recruiting skills to the college level. I know he had plenty of opportunities to get his foot in the door as a college assistant.

    -- Posted by Sports guy on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 4:03 PM
  • He really thought he had the Union University men's basketball job when Ralph Turner, who incidentally used to coach with Don Meyer at Lipscomb, when Turner left Union. They hiredCoach Niven. He talked his way into the girls job at Dyer Co. To increase his salary, coaching both programs. Block scheduling there during the school day, that's true, practice blocks are built into the day.

    -- Posted by coachinhoops on Tue, Dec 10, 2013, at 10:32 PM

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