The Lebanon News | Anthony Stevens | Photo Credit: Submitted Photo
WISE — Perhaps the best point guard in the history of Honaker High School continues to dish out assists. Blake Stinson will be assisting UVA-Wise men’s basketball coach Blake Mellinger in a great capacity. It was recently announced that former Honaker standout and 2018 graduate Blake Stinson has been promoted to associate head coach of the Cavaliers for the 2024-25 season.
“I feel it’s pretty special,” Stinson said. “I came here as a common student, I started at the very bottom with the student-assistant tag, but truthfully, it’s more of a manager-type position. To be able to not only see the program grow but to see the personal growth of myself and to be able to stay here at a place that means a lot to me. I care about my boss (Mellinger), so I’m excited about the future and being able to represent not only my alma mater but a community that means a lot to me.”
Stinson actually signed to play baseball at UVA-Wise. Although playing baseball for the Cavs, he steadily progressed in the basketball coaching ranks. Stinson started as a student assistant in 2019 and graduated from UVA-Wise in May of 2021. He was immediately promoted from student assistant to assistant coach in the 2021-22 season. Stinson will be Mellinger’s right-hand man as associate head coach this year.
“I came over here to play baseball for (recently retired) coach Hank Banner, and enjoyed that experience tremendously,” Stinson said. “The decision to step away from baseball was a tough one, I don’t have a bad thing to say about the baseball program here. I still have relationships with the staff that I played for.
“It was more just the opportunity that Coach Mellinger had given me. I had reached out to him, really just looking for advice. I was interested in coaching, it could be basketball or baseball, I just wanted to sit down and talk with him. That conversation led to an opportunity, as a student assistant. Once COVID shortened my redshirt freshman year on the baseball field, it felt like if I really wanted to entrench myself into this, I needed to be all in. From there, things have just played out, the way they have.”
What are the duties of an associate head coach?
“It will be pretty similar to what I’ve been doing, he said. “I do a lot day-to-day with our guys, whether it’s player development, schematics, or kind of looking at our personnel and getting a sense of how we want to play. I spend a lot of time on the defensive side of the ball, so I take pride in that, I want to help us get more stops. I do a lot of recruiting, which is fun. I love the chase of recruiting, going out, and bringing in not only talented guys but guys that are pleasant to be around on a day-to-day basis. It’s all-encompassing at this level, we have a small staff in comparison to Division 1 programs. You have your hand in all facets of the program.”
Being at a Division II school the duties vary for Stinson and he enjoys how things fluctuate.
“Some days I come in and we have to watch some film, next day it may be roster management with recruiting, and trying to figure out what you’re going to need,” commented Stinson. “With the transfer portal, it’s a constant guessing game at times. Maybe the next day it’s sitting down with someone to help them map out their schedule to be on course to graduate. I enjoy the randomness of being prepared for what the day may throw at you.”
Each day is challenging with different tasks. UVA Wise was originally NAIA, they moved to the D-II Mid-South Conference in 2012-13 and took the jump up to the extremely competitive South Atlantic Conference with the 2019-20 academic year.
“I think the SAC is advanced,” he said. “Some people have put a negative connotation on the number following the division, there’s a small gap between most D1 leagues and what we deal with here. It’s a grind. They are a bunch of high-level coaches in our league with good facilities. You have to bring it every single day, put our best foot forward, and try to close the gap to check some boxes here as a program.”
Stinson had a storied career at Honaker High School. The dual athlete was First-Team All-State in his junior and senior seasons in baseball at Honaker. He was also highly acclaimed as a point guard on the basketball court.