From GoUpstate.com, the website of The Spartanburg Herald-Journal
New basketball coach takes over at Riverside High
By John Clayton
For the Greer Herald
Published: Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:10 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:10 p.m.
As high school basketball teams begin play in the coming days, the Riverside boys team will have a new head coach for the first time in two decades.
Murray Long, whose father and brother are also coaches, has officially joined the family business, taking the helm of the Warriors after working for six years as an assistant coach at Riverside.
"I had looked hard (for a head-coaching opportunity), and there were a couple of offers here and there, but nothing that felt right to me and my family," said Long. "I liked working here, but I didn't feel like the heir-apparent (to former coach Sam Oates). We never discussed it like that. My family and I like it here, and it just worked out."
Long's Warriors begin their season Dec. 1 against neighborhood rival Eastside. Meanwhile, the Greer boys team, which is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, tips off the season Nov. 30 by hosting Eastside. Blue Ridge opens Dec. 1 at Berea.
Oates reportedly resigned as head coach after 21 seasons this past spring, opening the door for Long. Oates remained at the school and is still Riverside's golf coach.
Long worked as an assistant coach at Crescent High School and under long-time Mullins High head coach Mark Gerald before returning to his Upstate roots to join the Riverside staff.
But Long's coaching apprenticeship began long before his teaching career got started. He is the son of long-time Mauldin High athletic director Carroll Long. His younger brother, Wes, played at Clemson and is in his second year as head coach at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C.
"I've always known that I wanted to be involved in this," Murray Long said. "It's kind of what I grew up doing."
He said he is ready for the challenge, but can appreciate the fact that he's still a rookie head coach with state powerhouse Greer to compete against in Region III-3A.
"I've learned a lot so far," Long said. "And I know I'll keep on learning."
Graham Rogers, one of Riverside's captains, said the change at the top has been challenging but fun, so far.
"If we don't have the energy level, he's going to find a way to get it out of us,whether it's through me and the other captains of whether he has to do it himself," Rogers said. "Once we figure out, all the options out of the offense, it'll be fun, and we'll have fun doing it."
Long, who played at Mauldin -- where he was teammates with NBA star Kevin Garnett -- before going on to a collegiate career at Erskine, has been busy installing his new offensive scheme this preseason, which included a Thursday night scrimmage against Greenville Tech, and hopes the learning curve is a small one for the Warriors.
"We're looking for a connection with these kids between their bodies and their brains," he said. We're spending a lot of classroom time, and that's something that we've never done before."
With Greer as the measuring stick, Long has set this season's goal as a trip to the playoffs.
"Our goal right now is to win enough region games to get in the playoffs," he said. "That's our goal right now, to be playing well enough in February to be a playoff team.
"We've got kids who are working hard, and who have bought in to what we're doing."
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