11/05/09 - 09:49 PM
Chipola basketball has a history of dominance.
14 national tournament appearances, winners of six consecutive Panhandle Conference titles and in August the Basketball Times named Chipola the top junior college program of the decade.
With former head coach Greg Heiar now an assistant at Southern Miss, new head man Jake Headrick has to keep the winning tradition alive.
“I feel lucky. I think the biggest asset of taking this job was working under Greg for a couple of years here at Chipola. I would like to have back some of the guys that we lost the last couple of years. We have 12 new guys, nine freshmen, said Headrick.
Yes you heard correctly, Chipola has 12 new guys on this year’s roster. Zero returning scorers from a season ago, but that doesn’t bother Headrick, he’s ready to see what these new faces have to offer.
“That’s what I’m anxious for, to see if the guys who have been good at practice are as good as they are on game night. See who might be better on game night than they have been in practice,” said Headrick.
We are a little nervous but I think a lot of guys are ready for it. We’ve been working hard in practice, working hard learning plays. Learning the system. I think a lot of the guys are ready for what we have coming,” said freshman guard Lashay Page.
Headrick says he believes the Panhandle Conference is the best conference in America, and the test for the Indians is to see how much better they can get on a day-to-day bases until conference play begins in January.
“My goal for this team is to be playing our best basketball after Christmas, to make the tournament and you get there on our home floor, no telling what can happen then,” state Headrick.
“We have to come out and step our game up and play to the best of our abilities. Hopefully win the conference championship and later on win the national championship,” said Page.
Chipola plays LBW of Andalusia, Alabama on Friday night in the Milton H. Johnson Classic.