Preseason preview: East boys basketball

Published 3:33 pm Saturday, October 29, 2022

East Limestone’s head boys basketball coach, Jake Moran, may be new to the team, but he joins a program that is used to winning.

So is he.

With his group the defending champions of the County Tournament, Moran takes over a group with talent, experience and confidence.

“Still learning the guys and their personalities, and they’re getting to know me and the expectations better every single day,” Coach Moran said. “I like their unity. These guys, they have been together for a while. Not a lot of transfers or anything like that. They have played together since youth league. They know each others’ strengths and weaknesses. They play well together.”

Moran is familiar with the area and also familiar with winning.

The past two seasons, he has been with the nearby Tanner Rattlers, who are always competitive.

Before that, he spent seven seasons as head or assistant coach for 7A Grissom in Huntsville.

His first stint with Tanner was as assistant for two seasons before leaving for Grissom.

He is a high school graduate of Tuscaloosa Academy and a college graduate of Athens State.

Every time there is a new coach at the helm, even with a successful basketball program, there is a change in expectations and in the culture of the program.

For Moran, his philosophy is simple: hard work.

“I preach hard work every day. The more you spend working, the better results you are going to get,” Moran said. “So, we put in work every day. Five days a week in the offseason. We are going to practice every day we can practice. We did not have any guys who play football, so we have had a real hard offseason. They have gotten after it and we are just growing as a team. They are learning what I want to do.”

There is also another simple philosophy of his: they are going to shoot it, and shoot it often.

“They guys have bought into that and it’s been pretty good,” he said.

The Indians, while they will have a good squad, are also going to have no nights off, as they play constant tough opponents in northern Alabama.

“North Alabama is always really good at basketball. They produce championship-level teams every year, as well as big time college players every year,” Moran said. “You have a really good talent pool here with really good teams and coaches. Walk in any gym on any given night and find good basketball. I think it makes us all better; it’s a chance to see other coaches coach.”

His group is looking towards many accomplishments in the 2022-2023 season, which begins with wanting to succeed early on to gain momentum into the County Tournament for a chance at a repeat

“We talked about our goals this year, and one of the first ones of the year we can hit is being county champs,” Moran said. “We look forward to that. Our two main goals were county champs and area champs. Then, go from there. Everything after that is piling on (that success).”

Moran talked about two coaches he looks up to currently, who inspire him to inspire his kids.

One is Coach K at Duke, the former great of the Blue Devils who recently retired.

For someone who preaches hard work (and also a Duke fan) such as Moran, Coach K is a fitting role model, as someone who went from the Military Academy to becoming the most successful college coach of this era.

Another is Steve Kerr, the current head coach of the defending world champions Golden State Warriors.

Kerr is another fitting role model, as he is a coach who preaches shooting, shooting and then shooting some more, much like Moran.

In addition to playing hard and shooting the ball well and often, Moran is also expecting his group to control the tempo of the game, making the other team play their style of basketball.

East Limestone will be featured in an area alongside 5A Area 16 opponents Ardmore and Madison Academy.