NEWS RELEASE

Danville High School’s new interim head boys’ basketball coach is a DHS graduate himself and formerly an assistant coach for the girls basketball team.

“We wanted to offer this opportunity to a person that connects with our students, has walked the halls of Danville, and been a part of a lot of great success in Danville’s district in the basketball program, both boys and girls,” Principal Chad Luhman said during a public announcement about the hire.

The new interim head coach will be Tryston Ford, who plans to step into the head coach role beginning Monday and start practicing with the team.

“There is nobody I’d recommend more than this young man,” said Judie Mason, head coach for the girls team. “He’s played here; he is passionate about it; he’s a great young man.”

Ford said he’s grateful for the opportunity and is excited to work with the student-athletes, who he said are great kids with a lot of potential.

“I love Danville,” he said. “I was born and raised here. I played here — football, basketball and track. I graduated here in 2012.”

He said his greatest strength as a coach is his ability to relate to the players, who he said come from a lot of different backgrounds.

“I feel like that’s one of the most important things,” he said. “They can come talk to me about things, basketball-related or not basketball-related.”

He said in his experience as a coach, he has learned a lot from Cliff Berry and Mason.

“My coaching stint with her has been amazing,” he said about Mason. “She teaches me things on a day-to-day basis. I look forward to her continuing to mentor me through my coaching career.”

As someone who began playing basketball as a small child and is now a head coach at the high school level, he said it “hasn’t completely sunk in yet,” but he’s “extremely excited.”

One of his goals is to pack the stand at games, and bring the community together. Community involvement is extremely important, he said.

His priority and focus is on the students’ improvement and making sure they leave the school, and the basketball court, as better people.

“I feel like we send them out better than when they came to us, which we should,” he said.

He wants to build his players into champions and encourage them to work harder than they ever have.

“In order to accomplish what I want to accomplish and what we need to accomplish, we have to do that — work 10 times harder than we have before,” he said.

His goal for the program is to get his players to the “next level,” help them improve as young men. He also wants to let them know how important their grades and academic pursuits are, and how they translate to real life.

Ford steps into the position after Ed McKinney resigned from the position late last month. Luhman said DHS is grateful for McKinney’s coaching career and the excellence he has brought to the program.