Danville coach J.J. Hill with his team
HARTSELLE – Danville girls' basketball coach Paul Wilson stepped away from the game in February after his Lady Hawks were eliminated by Priceville in the AHSAA 4A, Area 14 Tournament. Assistant coach J.J. Hill has been named head coach.
Not many knew of Wilson's decision at the time, especially the media. Wilson felt it was time to step away from the game and focus on spending time with his family. Wilson has two kids with a son now getting involved in playing basketball.
Danville is taking part in the summer basketball play day series in Morgan County, an event created by Wilson several years ago. Wilson started it with games at Danville and received assistance from other schools such as Hartselle, Brewer, Falkville, Decatur Heritage, Priceville and West Morgan.
Wilson told The Tribune he has 45 games among 11 locations for this event, sanctioned by the AHSAA, for the month of June.
Varsity, junior varsity and middle school teams are allotted three weeks out of four in June to play as many days and games as they can. Wilson sends out invitations, with teams accepting certain days to play at various locations.
Wilson has expanded his coverage area for play days this year, including Double Springs, Hazel Green, Russellville and Jackson-Olin in the Birmingham area.
Besides the summer play days, Wilson will keep running an event that has become one of the best for girls' basketball, the Lady Hawks' Thanksgiving Classic.
Sixteen teams have been coming to Wayne Bowling Gym on the Danville campus for the last eight years. Among the schools from Cullman County in recent years to take part have been Cold Springs, Fairview, Good Hope, Holly Pond and West Point.
Wilson told The Tribune Cullman has been given and accepted an invitation to play in 2017. The tournament is held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and continues with the championship to be played two days prior to the holiday.
Fairview has reached the championship game the past two seasons, falling in the finals to Athens. Both will be back to battle it out in November, Wilson said.
For Danville, Hill has gone through some highs and lows two days into his first segment as head coach. The Lady Hawks lost to West Point 63-42, then defeated Colbert County 54-48 Monday at Falkville.
Meeting Hartselle in their first game Tuesday, the Lady Hawks were controlled by Hartselle jumping to a 17-0 lead after the first 8:00 and coasting to a 56-28 victory.
Coaching has been a good part of Wilson's life. His twin brother, Joseph, continues to coach girls' hoops at Winfield High School.
His role in the summer can be compared to a commissioner in professional sports or collegiate sports, such as Greg Sankey of the Southeastern Conference.
Wilson has done three things very well. He built a winning girls' program at Danville, has established a very quality holiday girls tournament and has many teams involved in play days through the month of June.
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