Parkdale's Basketball Coach Looks to Successful Future Seasons

Parkdale boys’ basketball coach Tremaine Price was a member of the last great squad the Panthers fielded – the 1997 team that lost the state championship game in overtime to Southwestern High from Baltimore.

Since then, though, the Panthers have fallen on hard times, and when Price took the reins at his alma mater three years ago, he set out to change that.

“I’m just trying to bring back the spirit,” he said. “I saw what happened when I was at Parkdale and we were winning. It just brought so much life to the school, and the atmosphere was so much better. That’s what I want to bring back to the school.”

This year, the Panthers took another small step towards that turnaround. Parkdale finished 12-11, posting the school’s most victories since the 2005-06 team won eight games.

It was a marked turnaround from Price’s first season, which saw the Panthers–who had just one player with varsity experience–finish 0-23. In Price’s second season last year, Parkdale improved to 7-15.

“It definitely was hard,” Price said. “My first year, I had , and that was the only player that I had that was actually supposed to be on the varsity level."

Other than Straughn, he had three players who came from their middle schools teams and to start on varsity.

"I just didn’t have any talent overall [in addition to] the fact that I got the job two weeks before the season," Price added. "Then last year, I believe I had the bodies, but I don’t really think they believed [they could win] because of the mentality of they were used to losing.”

This year, though, that appeared to change. The Panthers went 10-8 against Prince George’s County 4A foes, including victories over 4A South region finalists Eleanor Roosevelt and C.H. Flowers.

“I’m definitely very proud of the kids that I had this year,” Price said. “They really worked hard, and for the most part, I believe that they bought in to what we’re trying to do."

He added, "We were in a lot of games this year and we definitely could have won a lot more, but all I can say is my kids, I think they left it all out on the court.”

Perhaps the Panthers’ biggest personnel loss will be Straughn, a three-year starter at point guard who led the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game. Straughn hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Panthers to a win over Northwestern in the first round of the 4A South playoffs on Feb. 25.

In addition to Straughn, the Panthers will have to replace starting forward Andrew Green (10 ppg) and starting guard Kenny Miles (7.3). Junior starters Charles Cooley (12.5) and Nicholas Jackson (10.1) are slated to return, as is junior reserve guard Vohn Beach.

Injuries and academic issues thinned the roster in the second half of the season, leaving the Panthers with just eight players on some nights.

“I think overall we still definitely have some holes to fill,” Price said. “We’re not as blessed as other schools to have just a lot of basketball players hanging around the school. We pretty much have to roll with what we have that’s in the building."

He said the schools that did well this season have larger numbers of players. 

"They had a number of kids who could actually play basketball, whereas we were limited," Price said. "The main thing is keeping the kids that are supposed to be at Parkdale, and hopefully with the success that we had this year, the kids will stay and they’ll realize that Parkdale actually can win and compete in the 4A.”