West Lauderdale High School welcomed coach Wyatt Tullos Jr. to the Kingdom on Wednesday, where he will take over as head coach of the West Lauderdale Girls Basketball Team.
Tullos, a veteran coach with more than 26 years of experience, said he looks forward to getting to know the players and getting to work building their skills ahead of next year’s season.
“I know what a great school this is, what a great opportunity this is,” he said. “I’m just excited about being here with these young ladies and teaching them about basketball and teaching, coaching, being part of the community.”
WLHS Principal Shane Rodgers said the school is excited to welcome Tullos to the team and looks forward to seeing what he is able to do with the girl’s basketball program.
“He’s got a ton of experience, and he’s fired up to be here, and he’s excited to be a knight, and he’s ready to get to work,” Rodgers said.
Beginning his coaching career at Lake School District, Tullos spent 22 years coaching at Newton County schools before returning to Lake, where he has been for the past year. Coaching high school athletics, he said, requires teaching much more than just how to win, and helping his players develop as individuals is also a big part of the job.
“High school athletics is great, the things you learn,” he said. “The discipline, hard work, goal setting, handling success, handling failure, being consistent each day, those are the things that we really learn in high school athletics, and I guess that’s just why we do what we do.”
The Lady Knights ended the 2023-2024 season with a 4-20 record, according to MaxPreps, and Tullos said he sees the upcoming season as an opportunity to get back up and try again. Initially, he said, the team will focus on the fundamentals, such as blocking, playing defense, getting after loose balls, and more while he gets to know the players.
“Once we get started and can see them, I’ll have a little more idea exactly what we need to do more specifically, but as a general rule those are the things we are looking for and trying to accomplish,” he said.