Trey Tinsley Named Head Coach of ECHS Wildcat Basketball

Trey Tinsley talks to basketball players in the locker room shortly after being named the new head coach for the Wildcats.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
Edmonson County High School announced today that Trey Tinsley has been hired as the Wildcats' newest head basketball coach.

Tinsley, who just turned 29 years old, is a PE teacher at South Edmonson Elementary and is starting his 8th year in coaching.

He served as an assistant for the Cats last season to Coach Brad Johnson, who recently retired from the head coaching position. Prior to that, he also served as a middle school, freshman, and JV coach for Grayson and Logan Counties, Glasgow, and started his coaching career as a freshman coach at Edmonson County under Mike McClintic.

"I've worked with a lot of great coaches over the last several years and working with Coach Johnson was awesome," he said. "Last season, he'd come up to me and say 'hey, what defense to we need to run here?' and him having the confidence in me to let me make those calls meant a lot. He's a great coach with regional championships and that's what I want to bring to Edmonson County."

Tinsley said he is a believer that defense wins games and it's going to be an important part of his plan.

"You can't always shoot well every night but you can always play defense."

He also said that winning the district championship last season was incredible but he wants to raise the bar.

"We always want to be competitive in our district and have a chance to win a championship, but we want to be able to compete with anyone in our region. We want to bring a region championship here. It may take some time to achieve that, but that's what we're working for."

Coach Tinsley said the departure of four starters from last year's team is obviously something to which the team will have to adjust, but they will be building around returning starter Will Alexander.

"He's a top player and we know we're going to rely on him, but who will the other guys be?" he said. "That's where we'll have some fun practices because we'll have guys battling for those spots. We'll take the top 7 or 8 and we'll go from there. If they're young guys, that's ok. If freshmen and sophomores are winning those battles, then that's who will play. We're going to have guys that play hard, that are respectable young men--on and off the court--and guys that want to compete. And we want to see that from our youth league all the way up."

ECHS Principal Jonathan Williams discussed the decision to hire Coach Tinsely, which he described as a "slam dunk."

"He comes from a basketball family and has built his own resume already as a coach, Williams said. "Trey has a tremendous ability to motivate, lead, and develop young people and I'm proud of that.  Trey is a good moral person that I think will lead our basketball program for a long time."

Tinsley said one of his goals was to stay at Edmonson County for the long haul. "For like, the next 20 years."

Principal Williams said that aside from a "catastrophe," he could see Coach Tinsley setting a school record for team wins. 

"That is my hope for all of our new coaches," Williams added. I can't wait to watch our new coach and our kids grow together.  Trey has been fortunate enough to not only play for some of the best coaches in this area, but to also assist them on the bench. He played two years of college basketball and brings an extremely positive approach to coaching.  I encourage our community and alumni to get behind him and our boys.  Fortunately, we have a good crop of talent at our school, with more on the way. It's an exciting time to follow Wildcat basketball."

Retiring Coach Brad Johnson introduced Tinsley to players in the basketball locker room today.

"I've left other places where another coach came in after me and I feel better about this one than any other I've ever had," said Coach Johnson. "I would not leave this job without having confidence in a guy like I have in this one, so make him proud, make us proud...Trust me--trust me--we got the right guy for this job," he said as the players applauded.

Coach Tinsley and his wife, Carsan, live in the Chalybeate community.