WS Chronicle

This season the East Forsyth Eagles’ JV basketball team will be led by new head coach, Jamie Foster.

Foster, a Winston-Salem native, spent the last four years as the head basketball coach for Carolina Christian College (CCC) men’s basketball team. He was looking to get back to the high school level to teach the basics to the younger generation and to let them know what it takes to play on the next level.

“Well, you know me and Coach Gray are like brothers, you know, really close friends, and he had a job opening and he asked me would I be interested in coming in to revamp the JV program,” Foster said about how he became the new coach for the Eagles JV team. “I thought it was a great opportunity for me by leaving the college ranks. You know it’s a lot of politics there and now I can get back to working with these youths and try to get them ready for the next level.”

Foster says it was a “no brainer” for him to accept the job at East Forsyth. Foster says he knows the type of program Gray runs, so he just wants to come in and continue to build upon the foundation Gray has already built.

“It’s already a solid program there, I just thought I could help him bring more to the table as well,” he said.

Foster says he enjoyed his time as the coach at CCC, but there were several contributing factors that led to the mutual split between him and the school. He has been coaching for 21 years overall and thinks his experience coaching on different levels will benefit him well on the high school level.

“I have a good idea of what they should and shouldn’t do, because I saw a lot of things on the college level,” he said. “A lot of times on the college level, it’s a lot about politics and who you are. A lot of times, it’s not about how good you are, it’s who you are and to me that’s not right.

“Whether you are a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior, if a freshman is better than the senior, then I think he should play. So, I think on the high school level, I can get back to just being a coach and don’t have to worry about so much politics. I can basically be myself again.”

The first thing Foster wants to do with his team is to make sure they understand that academics is the most important thing. Secondly, he wants to implement his brand of discipline and respect on the players and let them know what he expects from them on the court.

For Foster, he is a coach who enjoys playing fast. The more possessions the better for his team. He is calm in certain situations, but is tough when it’s needed.

“I love up-tempo ball, that’s what I’ve been doing most of my years,” Foster said about his coaching style. “I am a laid-back coach when it comes to game time and I am a hard-nosed coach in practice.

“I love up-tempo ball, pressure defense, get up and down the floor to get easy opportunities and create turnovers, that’s just me.”

Foster says he is going to bring some things from his time at the college level to the Eagles JV team. He says he will stress defense, because he feels that portion of the game is lacking for many of the younger players.

“Our kids are so athletic, and they can really score the ball, but they are lacking defense,” he said about the younger generation of basketball players. I don’t know if it’s something they don’t want to do, or something they haven’t been taught to do.”

According to Foster, another benefit for moving back to the high school level is that overall the kids are more eager to learn versus the collegiate level where the players feel they know it all.

“To me, coaching high school ball or youth ball is more fun to me, because you can actually coach and the guys will listen,” he said.  

Foster feels you can measure success in several different ways.  For his first season, he wants to have an above .500 record and prepare the JV players for the next level.

“All I want year one is to improve their games and develop their skills,” he said. “From Nov. 1 til the end of the year, I just want to make sure I can make everybody better in some kind of way.”