How Travis Priddy landed the job as the Woodville-Tompkins boys basketball coach

Woodville-Tompkins went from a fledgling boys basketball program to one of the top programs in Georgia in six years under coach Lenny Williams, who left to coach at Ware County when last season came to a close.

Now Travis Priddy, a veteran coach with plenty of experience in the Greater Savannah area, is set to take over the Wolverine program.

Woodville-Tompkins announced the hiring of the 49-year old Priddy on Thursday.

"We went through an extensive interview process and narrowed it down to three good candidates," Woodville athletic director Emma Sharp said. "What stood out to us with Coach Priddy was his familiarity with our area and with our program. He did a lot of research and had great knowledge of basketball in Savannah. He's a good coach with a personality we thought would mesh well with our kids."

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The Wolverines went 20-10 last year, winning the Region 3-A Division I title and advancing to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs behind the play of star guard Alfonzo Ross, who signed to play at USC Beaufort.

Williams led the Wolverines to 123 wins in his six-year tenure and the team had a memorable Cinderella run to the Class 2A Final Four in 2022.

Priddy, a former assistant coach at Armstrong State, coached on an interim basis at Effingham County last season and the Rebels went 17-9. He had previous stops at Savannah Christian and Savannah Country Day at the high school level in Savannah.

He grew up playing high school basketball in West Virginia and ended up coaching at the college level at Marshall University with Jeff Burkhamer, who then came to Savannah to coach at Armstrong, where Priddy joined him.

"I'm excited about getting started at Woodville," Priddy said. "I'm coming in late this summer and haven't got a chance to meet or have workouts with the guys yet, but I know we have some talented players coming back -- guys like (rising junior guard) Jonathon Pickering. We lost three key seniors, but have an athletic, quick group that will surprise people next season."

Priddy said everything came together to make Woodville an excellent place to land.

"The basketball program is very successful and the school has such great academics, and it's just 13 miles from my house," said Priddy, who has been a head coach at the high school level for 18 seasons. "When you have all that combined -- it seemed like a perfect trifecta."

He said he's always been a impressed by the level of play in the Hostess City.

"I've always been drawn to basketball in Savannah," Priddy said. "When I left Armstrong to coach in Florida for a while, I always knew I wanted to come back to settle in and coach here. The kids are all getting bigger, stronger and faster and developing their skills playing AAU ball in the summer. I'm looking forward to getting started at Woodville-Tompkins.

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at [email protected]. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Travis Priddy lands job as boys basketball coach at Woodville-Tompkins