By David Perry
“I was pretty much done coaching.”
Stanley Gatlin expressed regarding his hiatus from coaching after his departure from Brighton.
Gatlin, the all-time winningest coach for the BHS, planned on just helping out a local middle school team and eventually “faze out” of coaching.
“I helped with the (Crestview) middle school last year, and I was gonna be, like, fazing out. Just riding to the sunset.” He said.
It wasn’t until newly hired head coach Nick Buford of Covington High called him and asked if he would like to assist him this upcoming season. Gatlin quickly took on that offer.
“I called him back the next day and said, ‘Man, what’s my role? What you want me to do?’” He said.
Another reason on why he chose to get back into the coaching gig was because his son, Taelyr, was offered an assistant position on the team as well. Seeing his son standing beside him on the court as a co-worker flatters him.
“It’s surreal, man, because originally, that’s what I wanted my plans to be when I was at Brighton was to bring him in and me phase out, and then ride to the sunset that way.” He said.
“So, to have him with me now, you know, God’s plan, man, is all I can say.” He added.
When he first got hired at Brighton in 2014, Taelyr was a freshman. They racked up 69 wins during his four seasons with back-to-back district titles, a first-time region championship appearance and sectionals.
Not to mention his son is currently the all-time leader in points, assists and steals. They also edged teams with multiple Division-1 players each of those seasons.
He continued his career at the University of Denver and received major playing time.
Now, to have both humans on the same coaching staff speaks volumes for Buford for making a wise decision on his staff.
Taelyr is ecstatic to begin his coaching career alongside Buford and his father. Wearing purple and gold is new for him but he is adjusting.
“Yeah, I’m definitely excited. I have a great opportunity to learn from two great coaches.” Taelyr said.
He added: “Covington alone is just a different atmosphere, even though it’s, what, five, 10 miles down the road, it’s just, the community is a lot different. A lot more supportive than I’ve ever been with.”
With being his former coach, there wasn’t any awkward transitions for the father-son. They been co-coaching since Taelyr’s high school days.
“It’s kind of similar to how it was when he was playing for me because he was like a player -coach anyway.” Stanley pointed out, “He be like extension of a coach for me because he’s my point guard.”
“I’ve been around my dad with this basketball stuff for a long time, and it just feels natural.” Taelyr brought up.
“So, no pressure or anything like that. I feel like we always talked about ball before, so this is just another phase of it.” He added.
