4 Questions With Buford Girls Basketball Coach Gene Durden
We spoke with Buford girls basketball coach Gene Durden to get his insights on this season and his time with the Wolves.
Q: How long have you been involved in high school basketball?
A: This is my 33rd year of being a head coach for a high school team. I coached both boys and girls varsity at my first job for three years. I have always been a head coach my whole career.
Q: How long have you been coaching the Lady Wolves?
A: I have been the head coach at Buford for 15 years. We have won eight state championships in three different classifications and played in 10 of the last 12 state championship games. We have also won the last four straight state championships in class 5A.
I have been very blessed at Buford to coach players that believe in our culture and the process of our system. We play a full court pressing defense and a fast break offense, but we also have the capability to play half court basketball and grind you down if we have to.
Q: Who are some of the top players to come out of Buford during your time there?
A: I have had some great players while I have coached at Buford: Andraya Carter, University of Tennessee, now an analyst for ESPN; Blanche Alverson, Auburn, now an assistant coach at Georgia Tech; Kayla Davis, University of South Carolina, national champions; Kristina Nelson, Notre Dame, also national champions; Tory Ozment, Michigan State University, was on ESPN Top 10 this week hitting a game winner versus Purdue.
But we have also had many great girls go on and play at all various levels from junior college to D1. These have just been our top players.
Q: What kind of year has it been?
A: It has been the most challenging season of my career due to all the uncertainty and distractions from COVID. It has taught me many great lessons, though, and one of them is to only worry about what you can control and don’t let the other things you can’t (control) drain energy from you or your program.
We have put together a great season with our team having our first undefeated season ever at Buford. Our state tournament classification will be such a challenge due to so many great programs being in 6A this season, but we look forward to doing our best.
Written by: Phil Jones
