LEBANON — A familiar face will be directing the Lebanon girls’ varsity basketball program. At a meeting of the Russell County School Board on Tuesday, Travis Hooker was named the new coach of the Lady Pioneers. Hooker replaces Rex Parker who recently resigned after holding the position for 28 years.
“I’m excited and looking forward to the opportunity,” Hooker said. “After the board voted me in, I went to the softball field because a lot of the basketball girls play softball and saw six or seven of the girls that play and their parents. They all came up to me it was nice to see the support that I had. I got to see most of the girls at the game and then touched base with the other girls at school today.
“I’ve always wanted to be a varsity girls’ basketball coach, my good buddy Rex hung in there for a long time. I’ve been in basketball in some capacity either boys or girls for 17-18 years. I did indoor track and stepped back last year. I was JV girls coach for about ten years and did eighth-grade boys before that.”
Hooker graduated from John Battle High School in 1997 and is a 2002 graduate of now-defunct Virginia Intermont College. Along with various coaching assignments, he has taught business at Lebanon for 19 years.
“Travis Hooker has put in a lot of time on the sidelines at LHS as a JV coach for both the boys and the girls,” Lebanon principal Ryan Potts said. “We had several quality candidates for the position, but his familiarity with our school and our program as well as his success in XC and track were primary factors that were considered in selecting him for the position. I am excited to see what he is going to do with the girls’ basketball program and am confident in his ability to lead the Lady Pioneers.”
Hooker is most noted for his success with Cross Country. He took the Pioneers to elite levels with two state championships and two state runner-up finishes. Hooker had three individual boys state champions and one girl won a state title.
“I’m looking to transition those things,” stated Hooker. “Basketball is different than cross country. I’m fully in, I want to do the best of my ability to succeed. I know it’s going to be a building process, but I have some goals that I want us to try to meet.”
You can expect a fast pace from the Lady Pioneers this winter. The Lebanon girls will push the ball up the floor.
“Throughout my basketball career I’ve been around different people and tried to grab things from a lot of different coaches,” Hooker said. “It’s no secret, everyone knows my personality, if you’ve seen my JV teams play, I like to play fast. It won’t be chaos, it will be organized fast, but if we have the opportunity to run, we will run. I like to press, play hard, and play really good defense. I just have to get the girls bought into that.”
Lebanon finished with a 4-18 record last season in a rebuilding year. They swept Tazewell in Southwest District play and posted victories over Lee High and Narrows. They were competitive in the SWD games.
Katie Jones was the only senior on the Lebanon roster last season. Nine players with varsity experience could return. There was one junior and one freshman along with seven sophomores.
“I know these girls,” remarked Hooker. “I know most of them very well. We will take some of the core things, Rex was obviously good at Xs and Os and ran a tight offense. I’m grateful for the 10-12 years with him to see those things. Once we get into half-court, I learned how to do those things, but as I said we’re looking to play a faster style of basketball.”
Hooker would like to get more girls involved in the program.
“I’m going around and encouraging girls to come out,” he said. “There are some young girls that have had some success we’ll be looking to contribute. There are some girls who haven’t played, that have been successful when they were young, I’m looking to bring them into the mix.
“I’ve already been researching some camps, I think it’s big to play. We have to get the process going, camps, open gyms, and to get the girls excited about basketball.”
Although the coaching staff is a work in progress, he expects to have Destiny Jarnigan who played at Cherokee (TN) High School and Southwest Virginia Community College as junior varsity coach.
“Destiny is very organized,” Hooker said. “She has a lot of the same philosophies about how she likes to play. I want to do the same things on JV and varsity. I want her to be a varsity assistant and I’m looking to add another assistant.”
The 2024-25 basketball season should be exciting in Lebanon.
“Rex has done a great job,” commented Hooker. “I’m lucky to be the next coach. I’m excited for the girls and the community. I’m all about the next step. First is the Southwest District regular season, the SWD tournament, and on to the region. We have a lot of things to do before we can get there. But it’s one step at a time, we have to build those things, I’m going to work toward the goals of being competitive and being in the mix.”