Published: 04:45 PM, Wed Jun 06, 2012
Wendell Wise gets South View basketball job
By Earl Vaughan Jr.
Scholastic sports editor
HOPE MILLS - The late Ron Miller was still coaching at South View High School when Wendell Wise joined the basketball staff seven years ago.
Now Wise will try to recapture the Miller glory years as he takes over as varsity boys' head coach.
Wise, who served as varsity assistant coach for the last three years, was introduced as the new head coach Wednesday by athletic director David Culbreth. Wise replaces Nathan Faulk, who recently left the school to become head coach at Wilmington's Laney High School.
"He's been in every facet of the program: freshman, junior varsity and varsity assistant,'' Culbreth said of Wise. "We felt he's put his time in.''
Wise, a Fayetteville State graduate who teaches English at South View, said already being on staff and being familiar with the players in the program will ease his transition to head coach.
"We'll keep doing what we're doing and we'll add a few things,'' he said. "I think we've built a good base. We need to focus more on defense.''
Faulk said his immediate concern for the offseason program this summer will be player development.
"We did a lot of player development last summer,'' he said. "We've got some things going this summer that will help us to continue to do well during the offseason.''
Because of Faulk's late departure this year, plans for summer work hadn't been firmed up, but Wise said he's worked on getting a concrete summer schedule together.
"We had one camp at Westover,'' he said. "We've got two more. We're going to Coastal Carolina and Cape Fear is going to have a camp.''
Wise said the key for South View to have a good season his first year will be to borrow a page from Miller's tradition, play tough defense, and rebound the ball well.
"If we continue to buy into the defense and take good shots, we'll be real competitive,'' he said.
Scholastic sports editor Earl Vaughan Jr. can be reached at vaughane@fayobserver.com or 486-3519.