Page Pirates looking for new boys basketball coach

Coach James Abell has stepped down/resigned, as the head boys basketball coach at Page High School….

Got the word confirmed this afternoon and there will be a press release coming out on Monday afternoon, but the word from Page High School Athletic Director Rusty Lee is, “Page is looking for a new mens/boys basketball coach”….

There will be an exhaustive search and there will be upwards of 100 candidates expected to apply for this position….Page will be take all the time they need to select their new coach…

Coach James Abell did an outstanding job going (27-3), finsishing just one game shy of the State Championship contest this past season, with the Pirates’ second place/runner-up finish to Lake Norman at the NCHSAA 4-A West Regionals, in the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center….

Page won the Metro 4-A Regular season Title and the Metro 4-A Conference Tournament Title…Page finished second to the Greensboro Day School at the 2013 TIMCO Invitational Tournament….

Page lost just three games on the season, by two points in OT to Greensboro Day, by one point to Dudley in the regular season and by two points on a last-second shot by Lake Norman in the Regional final…

Coach Abell has stated that he is stepping down from his Page post to spend more with his family….He has a young son and two young daughters….It was fun to start to see his son mingle with the Page players and spend time on the bench during the games this season and I remember a Friday night playoff game at Page, watching the little Abell hoisting up shots prior to the game while the team was back in the locker room getting ready and he has developed his own love for the game and could hit the bank shots and he the kid is coming around….

This will give Coach Abell more time to spend with is son and his wife and daughters were at every home game and it was always a treat to see those little girls running around up in the stands…On some nights, I think they had more energy than the team did, I know they had me beat….

Coach Abell was very successful as the head coach at High Point Andrews before joining Coach Robert Kent’s staff at Page….Coach Abell replaced Coach Kent as head coach, who repladed John Patty, who replaced Steve Hankins, who I believe replaced Coach Mac Morris, or at least I think it went soemthing like that….

Page loses seniors Jalen Gavin and Jeremy Harris and they return a five that can hang with any team in the state in Anthony Eaves, Ty Graves, Xavier Hill-Mais, Jalen Seegars and Diandre Overton…

Page was ranked as the #1 team in the state for much of this past season in the polls at MaxPreps.com in which GreensboroSports.com is a voting member…..

Good luck to Coach Abell and when the kids get a little bit older, who knows, we might just see him back in the game and his son will be a player, if keeps working on that bank shot….Just ask Larry Bird, it sure worked nicely for him….

Coach Abell also spent several years as an assistant coach at Greensboro Dudley, under the head man, Coach David Price and Dudley won several titles under Coach Abell’s steady leadership….

Again, the official press release is due out from Page High School on Monday afternoon….

*****James Abell will remain on board as a member of the teaching staff at Page High School.*****