Portsmouth Trojans' Coach Eugene Collins

[Trojanbuckeye]

Glad to see egos not in play. I really hope this continues all year.

[trojandave]

Just found out yesterday that Mason Jordan, a 6-2 sophomore, is now back at Portsmouth after moving to Tennessee last year. He is a very talented football and basketball player who has received a lot of high praise from a number of PHS coaches.

[biggdowgg]

I heard Wayne Evans realy looke good ......

also, we had just ask about Mason, yesterday, someone else was saying they seen him back in town,,,,thats good to hear....

[trojandave]

Just found out the other day that Shane Rhea, former Trojan coach Jim Rhea's son, will be the JV coach........very good hire by Coach Collins........Shane comes to Portsmouth after coaching the JV at South Webster last year.

Shane has a lot of passion and wants to see Portsmouth basketball rise again.

[sportsfan_1959]

Was impressed by Shane's coaching ability at Webster. A good hire by PHS in my opinion.

[Champs2006]

Another great addition to an already powerful staff. Congrats Shane! Hate to lose you at Webster.

[trojandave]

Will try to get a schedule soon and post it........I do know that we open up with South Webster at home and then travel to South Point.....Chris Barnes is the new coach at SP......we play Northwest twice.....and our other 2 non-conference games will be Wheelersburg and most likely Chesapeake.

The other 14 games will be double round robin in the SEOAL........finally!!......no more Day of Champions......thank goodness........the Trojans will really get tested with the league schedule.......a total of 10 games vs. D2 schools, and 2 vs. D1 Logan, and 2 vs. D3 Ironton.

With the school year fast approaching, my projected starting 5 looks like this:

Forrest Johnson 6-0 senior
London Malone 5-9 senior
Tre Underwood 6-4 junior
Dion McKinley 6-4 sophomore
Wayne Evans 6-2 sophomore

All but Johnson is playing football.......hopefully they will have a good football season (I am predicting 7-3) and stay injury free for hoops.

All of these kids played well at the OU shootout in early July.

Look for a lot more full court pressure this year.......Coach Collins wants to bring this back to Portsmouth basketball.........and also anticipate him using the bench a lot. He used full court defense almost exclusively at OU......and it was very effective quite often.

[ohbuckeye2]

Will try to get a schedule soon and post it........I do know that we open up with South Webster at home and then travel to South Point.....Chris Barnes is the new coach at SP......we play Northwest twice.....and our other 2 non-conference games will be Wheelersburg and most likely Chesapeake.

The other 14 games will be double round robin in the SEOAL........finally!!......no more Day of Champions......thank goodness........the Trojans will really get tested with the league schedule.......a total of 10 games vs. D2 schools, and 2 vs. D1 Logan, and 2 vs. D3 Ironton.

With the school year fast approaching, my projected starting 5 looks like this:

Forrest Johnson 6-0 senior
London Malone 5-9 senior
Tre Underwood 6-4 junior
Dion McKinley 6-4 sophomore
Wayne Evans 6-2 sophomore

All but Johnson is playing football.......hopefully they will have a good football season (I am predicting 7-3) and stay injury free for hoops.

All of these kids played well at the OU shootout in early July.

Look for a lot more full court pressure this year.......Coach Collins wants to bring this back to Portsmouth basketball.........and also anticipate him using the bench a lot. He used full court defense almost exclusively at OU......and it was very effective quite often.

WOW....did Wayne have a growth spurt over the Summer, in all seriousness Wayne is a heck of a Basketball player and I will miss seeing him playing for the Tigers. He will make a great addition to the Trojans Basketball Program. I guess I'll get to see him a couple times a year anyhow. Good Luck to Wayne and the Trojans.

[trojandave]

OHBuckeye1: Wayne is 6-2 but plays about 6-4 with his athleticism and wing span.......I have seen him in Bannon Park working on his game by himself........I have talked to him personally, encouraging him to make the most of his talent.

I really feel that Wayne can step right in with London Malone and give the Trojans a very formidable backcourt.........after watching him play at OU, Wayne is a potential 15 PPG scorer for PHS. One of the things I really love about his game is his desire to D up HARD.......he showed it at OU.......I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Coach Collins put Wayne on the other teams' best offensive player.

[biggdowgg]

what I like about Wayne, is several people from Ironton told me, he was easily one of the top 5, FOOTBALL players on that team

[jgordon0315]

I'm more and more excited about Trojan football and hoops this upcoming year.

[trojandave]

I had a great talk with Coach Collins just the other day........he plans on taking the Trojans to Florida next year for some shootouts........and also wants to dress the varsity in blazers for the games.........I believe that the Trojans' first SEOAL game will be at Warren, which will be a very challenging test. He said that Portsmouth could have as many as 7 guards rotating for the full court press.

He is very optimistic that he can have a good season in 2009-2010. Talking to him and listening to his ideas makes me feel like he will do a fine job as the head coach of the Trojans.

[trojan7]

I agree with you Dave as I think he will be a fine coach at PHS. I believe he also has a great group of assistants too and what they bring will help tremendously. I like hearing about rotating guards to keep fresh players out there for the press and hopefully we get to see great intensity back in the program.

[trojandave]

The Trojans' planned trip to Florida will be for regular season games over the Christmas holiday break in the 2010-2011 season. They would be most likely be playing at Disneyworld. There are already fundraising efforts underway to help pay for the trip.........very excited to see the kids get this opportunity to play against some excellent competition in the Sunshine State as well as enjoying the trip along the way.

[biggdowgg]

WO, DIsney world....that should get some kids out

[Moses Guthrie]

Coach Collins is selling raffle tickets for the OSU-USC game to raise money for the basketball program.

[biggdowgg]

Coach Collins is selling raffle tickets for the OSU-USC game to raise money for the basketball program.

you know how much tickets are?......I know I will want in on those.....

[Moses Guthrie]

Tickets cost $20. He is raffling two tickets to the game. The drawing will be Sunday, Sept 6 at 6:00 p.m in Coliseum.

[trojandave]

I am seriously thinking of making the trip to Orlando......have driven there before......it would be very exciting to see the Trojans playing in the Milkhouse at Disneyworld. I would say that PHS would play probably 3 games.........I know that Ironton went several years ago to Florida and played schools like Lakeland, Bradenton, Winter Park.......should be an exciting trip for the kids.

[Portsmouth98]

I was worried we were losing a lot from last year, but it sounds like even though we will be young we can still compete.