Not every team in basketball makes to the top. Any coach will tell you that making to the top is hard work, but what’s even harder is for a team who does make to the top to stay at the top.
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 24, 2004
In his twenty-first and final season as head basketball coach of the Sumter County Wildcats, head coach Johnny Patrick managed to not only get to the top, but he also managed to stay there all the way till the end.
The 3A Wildcats were a heavy favorite to the start of the 2003/2004 season and were highly ranked. But unlike many teams who come into a season with high hopes upon them, the Wildcats did not disappoint. Coach Patrick and his 31-2 Wildcats managed to work themselves up the ranking ladder to the No.1 position and stay there throughout the remaining part of the season and walk away from Birmingham with another state championship.
Patrick ends his 21-year career with a 479-121 record with five state championships in 2004, 1999, 1998, 1994 and 1988. It is for this reason that the Demopolis Times is proud to present Wildcats head coach Johnny Patrick as the 2003/2004 Coach of the Year.
