BHS basketball names coach
Matt Noah will head up the Belgreen boys basketball program.
By Bart Moss for the FCT
Matt Noah will head up the Belgreen boys basketball program. Noah was at Red Bay last season, where his team struggled to find their pace because of several injuries throughout the season. Noah said he is excited to get the opportunity to coach at a school where basketball is king.
“It’s great. In a way, it reminds me of Kentucky. At Belgreen, they live and breathe basketball,” said Noah.
“And they have the same colors as Kentucky,” Noah joked.
Noah spoke glowingly about Belgreen’s rich basketball history.
“Belgreen has a great basketball tradition and is always a difficult place to play,” he said. “To me, it may be one of the best basketball jobs in northwest Alabama.”
Noah met with the team Monday night, and he is excited to get started.
“We are going to have two seniors returning and five or six juniors,” he said. “We have a strong junior high program. I believe the future is very bright at Belgreen but it always is.”
Noah’s Red Bay squad last year was riddled with injuries but still managed to make it to sub-region play, where they lost a close game to Altamont.
“We started the season with 12 players and ended the season with six,” Noah explained. “We lost our best scorer, our best rebounder, one of our better defenders. We were struggling, but we still competed to the end. I was really proud of that team.”
Not having been able to coach his team during summer practice will be a minor obstacle.
“Coach Odom and I have similar philosophies with just different terminologies,” explained Noah, referencing Patrick Odom, who left Belgreen to take the Russellville boys basketball job. “We are going hit the weights and work on conditioning and be ready when practice starts in October.”
Noah also said being at Red Bay and being able to observe girls basketball-coaching legend Donnie Roberts was great learning lesson.
“I learned a lot from Coach Roberts,” said Noah. “Not just how to coach but how to build a program. I want to apply those lessons here at Belgreen.”
Noah knows the expectations that come with being the boys basketball coach at Belgreen and said he’s ready to embrace it.
“I want to get involved with the youth program, and we have a very promising junior high program as well,” said Noah. “I want to work with them and build the future of Belgreen basketball.”
