by Matt Wright
Lakeland Prep hired a new boys basketball coach in May and he’s been tasked with preparing the team for the transition up to high school basketball. Tyler Boyd is the new coach and he hit the ground running taking the boys to the well-regarded St. George’s middle school basketball camp held last week, June 2-5, 2021. The team played in the 7th and 8th grade division of the camp since those two grades would make up the first high school team as the junior and senior class. The Lions went 6-2 in the camp.
Coach Boyd comes to Lakeland Prep from a very successful Cordova High School program where he served as the assistant varsity basketball coach and the head coach for JV and freshman basketball since 2013. In his time at Cordova Coach Boyd coached in a state championship game and coached multiple players that went on to play college basketball. He was also the head coach for boys basketball at Bon Lin Middle school from 2009-2012 before leaving for the high school ranks at Cordova.
Lakeland Currents had time to sit down with Coach Boyd and ask some questions so fans and residents can get to know him.
Coach, what drew you to the job opening at Lakeland?
Being a head coach has always been a dream of mine. It is something that I have strived for during my tenor as an assistant at Cordova High School. With that goal in mind, I was drawn to Lakeland for many reasons such as community involvement, strong academic standards, and family atmosphere. I got to experience the Lakeland way first hand providing some of my free time as an assistant football coach several years ago. The support and involvement from the students, faculty, and community was very inspiring. Lakeland Preparatory School has everything we need to succeed at a high level.
Tell us about your philosophy as a coach. Specifically, basketball philosophy but also being a coach and mentor to boys.
My philosophy as it pertains to basketball is two fold. The main job we have as coaches is help prepare our kids for life. I believe sports has a unique ability to help prepare us for life as we battle adversity, learn resiliency, and develop an understanding of true team commitment. No matter where life takes you, at some point you will have to face adversity. Sports can help us understand to get up when we get knocked down and help prove to ourselves to never count yourself out. You must learn to be resilient in order to defeat that adversity and the hours of preparation and work we must put in will help us learn how to be resilient. Team commitment is something we all need to understand in order to be successful in society. The understanding that the team is bigger than any individual and that compromise is the most effective tool we can use to build and sustain relationships. We can learn all of these things from sports and apply them to our lives. Basketball wise, I believe defense is the cornerstone of any program on any level. Simply put the fewer points you give up, the fewer points you have to score to secure the win. I believe fundamentals are something that should be practiced daily and ultimately you cannot rush the process. Toughness and competitive response are two buzz words for our program as neither of these things have to do with talent. It takes energy and effort to play tough and we all are capable of doing that. Competitive response ties into battling adversity and being resilient when times get difficult or things aren’t going our way.
What are some of the challenges for Lakeland Prep but also what are some of the possibilities?
Some of the challenges at Lakeland are developing a culture that has a deep foundation. I know there have been several programs developed in the community that have started to build foundation in youth sports. We need to build on that and make it stronger. We need the community to be tied to the youth sports on the recreational level as well as the school level. I believe building a culture of cohesiveness and continuity will only help develop our sports long term. Another challenge will be the lack of open enrollment. I have heard takes on both sides of this debate and can understand the points from both sides. Either way this creates an advantage that other districts will have over us. However, this gives us the opportunity to develop our children in our district from early ages which relates to my point above. When we create deep ties to the community and develop a culture that is inclusive for all of our students, I believe we will develop an atmosphere and environment that our students and parents will be proud of and will want to remain a part of. When those other schools come calling, we need to remain united and understand that we can offer things that other schools cannot. There will be some challenges we will face, but they offer opportunities that we will take advantage of.
Tell us some about your background.
I graduated from Bolton High School in 2007 and accepted a scholarship to play basketball at Bryan College in Dayton, TN. After two years I decided to accept the head boys’ basketball coaching position at Bon Lin Middle School and finished my degree at the University of Memphis. Upon graduation, I accepted a Physical Education and assistant basketball coaching position at Cordova High School where I have been ever since. My beautiful wife Elise and I have been happily married for three years. We have two sweet pugs that think they run our household. My wife is a Physician Assistant in emergency medicine at Baptist Memphis Hospital. My hobbies include being a basketball nerd, traveling, and attempting to play golf. As a basketball nerd, I am constantly trying to learn new concepts, enjoy watching film, and watch as much basketball as I can. Traveling is something my wife and I really enjoy and we try to travel as much as we can. My favorite places I have been are Rome, Italy, Cairnes, Australia, and Kefalonia, Greece. We plan to get our scuba diving certifications in the near future as we really enjoy that activity.
How did team camp go last week at St. George’s and Briarcrest?
The basketball camp went very well! I am extremely proud of how we played and how hard we fought! With only a few days of preparation, we performed very well and executed well on both offense and defense. Our boys listen very well and were extremely selfless as many were playing out of their normal positions. We ended the week with a 6-2 record but the experience was much more than just wins and losses. I can’t say enough about how hard we played! We were the smaller team in basically every game we played but we battled like we were the bigger team. The best compliment a coach can receive is that their team plays very hard and that was exactly the narrative we heard all week! I am very excited for what the future holds for our program and can’t wait to get to work! I want to thank the players for their effort, dedication, and hard work. I would also like to thank the parents for their support, involvement, and participation in our program. Go Lions!
