Get to know Wakefield’s boys basketball coach Garrett Stevens
RALEIGH, N.C. — Garrett Stevens is the Head Varsity Men’s Basketball Coach at Wakefield High School. He completed his tenth year with Wakefield High School (WHS) as a coach – sixth year as the Varsity Head Coach. He is also in his seventh year as the Assistant Athletic Director at WHS.
He played as a student for WHS from 2001 to 2005 and was on their 2004 State Championship team. In 2012-13 he returned to WHS as a volunteer under Coach Cooley and worked his way up to Junior Varsity (JV) Head Coach and eventually the Varsity Coach.
“We’ve always relied on hard work and trying to build chemistry, trust, and togetherness. We spend a lot of time together, so building relationships with the players has always been tremendous. Working hard on the court during practice, in off-season workouts, conditioning, the weight room, and the classroom are all crucial aspects as well,” Coach Stevens states.
As a coach, he shares some of the most memorable moments. “When Brenon Rogers hit a game-winning three against Panther Creek in the third round of the playoffs in 2019 in a packed gym – it was a tight game all night. Also, going to Knightdale in 2019 for the last game of the regular season and winning the conference was incredible. We were very proud and happy for our guys and to see them celebrate was rewarding. The summer of 2022 (even though it was summer ball) was also a highlight, winning the Body Armor State Games at Wake Tech, which was only about four weeks after the death of Messiah Pitt, who was a rising senior. It was an emotional, celebratory moment for our guys after one of the toughest things we’ve been through,” he shares.
When there are times of loss, he encourages his team to stick with the process and get back to work, trying to learn from it and move on.
One of the most rewarding aspects of coaching is seeing our guys accomplish their goals. “This year, we’ve had seniors accepted to UNC, NC State, and ECU. We have two guys playing basketball at Wake Tech and Mary Baldwin this coming school year. Seeing former players come back and attend games – some have graduated college, started careers, and got married. A parent of a former player shared a picture with me a few weeks ago of him being inducted into the student-athlete honors society at Lenoir-Rhyne for his accomplishment in the classroom. These different things make me proud of the players we have,” he states.
One of the biggest takeaways he has learned in coaching is, “You can’t always make everyone happy, but if you are consistent, fair, and hold high standards, most kids will strive to reach expectations.”
“As a coach, I hope we’ve made a positive impact on our players. We stress the importance of academics and being a good person, and hopefully, they can be successful in everything they decide to do in life. It’s more than just basketball – it’s learning to work hard, be a part of a team, learn to sacrifice for others, to set and reach goals, and sometimes learning to overcome failure. We’ve had a lot of alumni back this spring playing in open gyms with our current guys, and it’s always great that they feel welcome to come back and want to help the players coming after them,” Coach Stevens concludes.
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