- April 26, 2024
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Flagler Palm Coast High School boys basketball coach Derrick Williams has resigned to move back to Alabama and be closer to family, he told the Observer.
“My daughter will be turning 2, and we want to raise her around family,” Williams said. “All of our parents are right there in the Birmingham area.”
Williams compiled an 18-31 record in two seasons with the Bulldogs. FPC went 11-13 and was the Five Star Conference runner-up in 2021-22.
But the team had a rough offseason. Sophomore shooting guard Keymarion Hall and fellow FPC student Noah Smith, both 16, were killed in a double shooting on May 3, 2022.
As the team and the school were grieving, six players — including Karl Knighten who would have been the leading returning scorer — transferred. Knighten went on to average 26.6 points per game at Matanzas.
“We lost seven players, one to gun violence,” Williams said.
He said school choice in Florida makes team hopping routine.
“Florida is the wild, wild West with open enrollment. You don’t know what you’re going to have,” he said.
Featuring mostly freshmen and sophomores, FPC went 7-18 this past season.
“The ninth grade class got valuable minutes,” Williams said. “I feel like the future will be pretty good.”
Williams was a head coach at Minor High School in Adamsville, Alabama, and Blount High in Prichard, Alabama, for a total of eight years. He led his teams to four sweet 16s and one elite eight appearance.
After moving to Florida, Williams spent two years at Atlantic High, serving as an assistant in 2019-20 and the head coach in 2020-21 before he became the Bulldogs' coach.
FPC athletic director Steve DeAugustino said the school has posted the job opening and hopes to have a new head coach in place before summer basketball workouts.
