The DeKalb County High School Tigers and Lady Tigers basketball teams begin their seasons this week, with new faces heading up the teams. After the departure of Lady Tigers Coach Danny Fish, and Tigers Coach John Sanders, the teams will have new leadership courtside.

Brandy Alley said the Lady Tigers have had a good preseason and are ready to play in a tough district.

“Our new season is starting off really strong with our practices,” Coach Alley said. “We’ve got some familiar faces that you’ll see like Ella VanVranken, Madison Martin, Dare Collins, and Avery Agee. They’ll all be back in the games.”

“We also have some kids that have come back to play, like Cadee Griffith, plus freshman Chloe VanVranken. We also have Ally Fuller, Ella Hendrixson, and Tess Barton. Everyone that is coming back is adding value to this group,” Alley continued.

“Of course we are in the hardest district you could possibly be in,” Alley explained. “Every team in our district is going to be a fight. There are no days off anyone in this district can take. It’s a pretty intense schedule, but it will be fun.”

Coach Alley will be joined courtside by Maddison Parsley, who stayed on as an assistant after the departure of Coach Fish, who is now the head coach of the Warren County Pioneers boys team.

Coach Alley knows a little about DeKalb’s competition. Originally born in Crossville, Alley’s family moved to Murfreesboro, where she graduated from Riverdale High School. She moved back to Crossville/White County area about four years ago, after taking on assistant coaching positions. She was an assistant basketball coach in White County, Cumberland County, and for two years at Stone Memorial, as well as serving as the head volleyball coach at CCHS.

After graduating from Riverdale High School, Alley went on to play college basketball at Faulkner University, in Montgomery, Al, where she finished her master’s in biology. She then got her master’s at Tennessee Tech in Education Curriculum Instruction.

“We have White County, Upperman, Livingston, Stone Memorial, Cumberland County and Macon County,” Coach Alley said. “White and Upperman are always good teams, and Cumberland County is going to have a big senior class that is really strong. Stone is returning all but one of its starters from last year, and Livingston is returning three players from last year. Every game is going to be a battle.”

As for the Tigers, there may be new coaches at courtside, but they will be familiar faces to many of the players. Former DeKalb Middle School boys’ head basketball coach Joey Agee has taken over after John Sanders left the program earlier this year. Coach Agee will also be joined by Assistant Cody Randolph, who served as the Saints boys basketball coach for the last eight years.

“I am excited,” said Coach Agee. “I have been wanting to get back into coaching for a while now. God has seen fit that it be now, and that I’ll do it with a good friend of mine. His grandfather and my grandfather are actually brothers so we have known each other for most of our lives. I’ve always had a good relationship with Cody. He took over at the middle school when I went to the West School as assistant principal, and he did a good job.”

“I know a lot of the kids and have watched them grow up,” Coach Agee continued. “I have a daughter in high school, so I’ve seen these kids from the time that they were little. I’m looking forward to working with them.”

Agee served as a physical education teacher and boys’ basketball coach for 11 years, then served as assistant principal at DeKalb West School for eight years. He and his wife, Casey, live in Alexandria with their two daughters, Avery, a sophomore and star basketball player for the Lady Tigers, and Jordyn who will soon be a seventh grader at DeKalb West School.

Agee graduated from DCHS in 1999, then continued to Tennessee Tech where he majored in health and physical education. In 2003 he became PE teacher at DMS and started his head boys basketball coaching career, and earned his Master’s in Instructional Leadership degree in 2010. Eight years ago, Agee left DeKalb Middle School to become Assistant Principal at DeKalb West School.

As for this year’s Tigers, Coach Agee said he is seeing good things. “I think we’re improving each day. We had a scrimmage game against Cookeville High School. We watched the film and saw some good things, but also saw some bad things. They are things we can correct pretty quickly, mostly effort.

“We have a lot of people coming back from last year, a lot of veterans players,” Agee continued. “I think, with that leadership, we should be fine. We have five seniors including four coming back from last year. We’ve got Conner Close, Stetson Agee, Robert Wheeler, Elishah Ramos, and also Zack Birmingham. I feel like, as we go through the season, with their leadership we’ll be in good shape. They’ve been there and done that, and I think that will help us out.”

“Size wise, I think we are good,” Coach Agee explained. “We’ve had some injuries though. Dallas Kirby got hurt in preseason and is out for the year, and Jordan Parker, we don’t know about him yet.” Parker was injured during football season with an elbow injury. “We added Ean Jones this year, and our juniors include Alex Antoniak, Conner Close, Ian Colwell, and Kaleb Spears. We’ll have sophomores Seth Fuson and Owen Snipes.”

Coach Agee also talked about the strength of the district this year. “There are a lot of good teams in our district. White County and Stone Memorial are tough teams, with Stone Memorial going to the state tournament last year. But, I think we will be able to compete, and with the players we have we should do pretty well.”