Elkins excited to get started at Central
RED JACKET, W.Va. - The Mingo Central Miners boys' basketball team now knows who their new head coach for the upcoming 2018-19 season will be as the administration at the school announced the hiring of Stan Elkins as their new basketball coach on Friday morning pending approval from the Board of Education.
Elkins, who has been an assistant coach for the Miners the past two years, was chosen to replace previous head coach Kevin Hatfield who resigned during the off-season to accept a higher paying job in the coal mining industry.
Elkins has been an assistant coach for the past 17 seasons at the high school level including stops at Williamson, Tug Valley, and Logan High Schools, is excited to get his head coaching career underway and lead the Miners program.
"I'm extremely thrilled to become the new coach of the Miners," Elkins said. "I'm very blessed and humbled by the committee's selection and we're going to do everything we can to put the best product out on the floor each and every night."
Elkins has coached under three state champion head coaches in Curt Fletcher, "Rabbit" Thompson, and Allan Hatcher and was a part of the back-to-back state championships at Tug Valley in 2012 and 2013.
Elkins has coached under Kevin Hatfield in each of the past two seasons and even led the Miners to a victory as acting head coach when Hatfield had to miss a game at Logan with an illness. So he brings a familiar face to the program.
"It's huge to have been at Mingo Central and these kids already know what I expect and what I'm all about," Elkins said. "I might not be the same as Kevin (Hatfield) and they don't want me to be. I'm going to be myself I'm not going to try and be anybody else. We're going to continue to work and persevere and look to keep this program on the right track."
Elkins is a longtime Mingo County resident and a 1976 graduate of Williamson High School. His mother, Vivian Elkins was a longtime coach at WHS as well as a WHS Hall of Famer and his father Jack Elkins was an assistant coach at Matewan High School. Elkins is cousins with former WHS great and current Marshall assistant coach Mark Cline.
Mingo Central athletic director Dr. Ted Kinder said that Elkins will bring some much needed experience and knowledge to the program.
"I am very pleased and excited to announce that Stan Elkins has accepted the head boys' basketball coach position at Mingo Central," Kinder said in an email to the WDN. "A man of impeccable character and extensive basketball knowledge, Stan exhibits the values that are desirable in such an important leadership role. He also brings the stability and experience we need and will undoubtedly be successful in developing young men and growing the program. "
The Miners finished 14-9 in 2017-18 but fell in the first game of the section to the Logan Wildcats. They were 20-7 in 2016-17 and advanced all the way to the Class AA state semifinals at the Civic Center in Charleston.
Central will look to return to Charleston for just the third time in program history next spring in Elkins first season.
The Miners have already released their schedule for the upcoming season and once again play a challenging class AA schedule. They open the season on December 11 at Cardinal Conference foe Scott High School. Their home opener is a week later against regional rival Logan High School.
Jarrid McCormick is a sports reporter for the Williamson Daily News. He can be reached by email at jmccormick@HDMediaLLC.com.