Washington to lead Vandy basketball team

Vandebilt Catholic has hired former South Terrebonne basketball player and assistant coach Henry Washington as its new head boys’ basketball coach.

Washington replaces Rafe Blades who resigned two weeks ago to take a job in pharmaceutical sales.

“I’m excited getting my first head coaching job here at Vandebilt,” Washington said. “The school has a great athletic tradition, and I hope to develop that with the basketball team.”

Washington previously coached the Louisiana Lady Hornets AAU team, the Nike Select Basketball team and at Oaklawn Junior High.

He also played college basketball at Southeastern Louisiana University and professionally in Europe for several years.

“We did a lot of networking as quick as we could,” said Kathy Luke, Vandebilt’s newly-appointed athletic director. “We feel fortunate to hire someone of his caliber in such a short period of time.”

Washington expects a tough first year at the helm. All five starters from last season’s squad graduated and the returning team members did not get much playing time.

“It should be pretty tough because schools like Ellender, Helen Cox and Morgan City, they’re getting a lot of players back,” he said. “We should be pretty small. We’ll figure it out before district play.”

With practices beginning in October and most of his players also on the football team, that leaves little time to implement a basketball playing style.

On defense, Washington hopes to play a lot of match-up zones and man-to-man defenses. He will commit to a system after he sees his team in practice.

“I have to see what the returners from last year can do,” he said. “Nothing is set in stone. I’ll try and develop something that fits them.”

Washington was Luke’s first hire since becoming athletic director Aug. 1. She replaced Calvin Buxton, who resigned in June but remains as an assistant football coach and teacher.

“The standard of excellence has been set very high and I want to maintain that standard into the future,” said Luke, who is entering her 23rd year as Vandebilt’s girls’ basketball coach.

Blades was the second Vandebilt coach to leave abruptly for a private sector job this summer. In May, former head football coach Mark King resigned to take an oil-field company sales job.

“It became a situation of do they want to provide for their families a little bit or stay in coaching,” Luke said. “I’ve been at Vandebilt 23 years. Every time the oil business starts booming, coaches leave. When the oil business goes down, a lot of guys return to coaching.”