Berkeley High School Is Proud To Announce Coach Matthew Mullins As Boys Head Basketball Coach
New Berkeley High School boys basketball coach Matt Mullins believes a winner can be built on the hardwood in Moncks Corner. After all, it hasn’t been that long ago since the Stags played for all the marbles.
“Berkeley has had some success recently,” Mullins said. “You don’t have to go that far back. They were in the state championship game (in 2018-19). Berkeley is rich in football tradition so you know you’ve got athletes to work with. You get some of those guys, work with them and you can get them to another level.”
Mullins spent the last four seasons at Colleton County High School as the Cougars’ boys basketball coach, winning a pair of region championships. Four Cougars moved on to college ball and Mullins was region coach of the year once.
The opportunity in Walterboro was Mullins’ first top varsity job. Prior to Colleton County, Mullins assisted Blake Hall at Goose Creek High School for four seasons and worked three seasons as an assistant at alma mater First Baptist in Charleston. The Hurricanes won 25 games and a state title in 2012.
Mullins replaces Joe Wallace, who guided the Stags for 11 seasons. The Stags peaked in the 2018-19 season under Wallace, claiming their third straight region crown before advancing to the Class AAAAA state championship game. That squad, which lost to Dorman by seven points, holds the school record with 26 wins.
In three seasons since, though, the Stags have won just 13 games. A great deal of talent departed after Berkeley’s most magical campaign in basketball and the Stags have slumped to three straight losing seasons. Last winter, Berkeley won two games.
Mullins hit the ground running this month, aiming to reverse those fortunes with his new team. So far, he thinks he has a coachable group that wants to do what it takes to win.
“With me just getting named in the summer, I’m trying to get all the time with them I can,” he said. “Offensively, we’re going to adjust to what we have skill-wise. I’m not going to be hardheaded and say this is what we’re going to do no matter what. I’ve done a 5-out offense before and last year we had to play two traditional posts. Defensively is where I can be a little more hard-headed. I want to play man-to-man defense. I want to get after people on defense and feed off it offensively. I feel like teams who feed off their defense can be better in years when they aren’t as skilled on the other end.”
Mullins is looking forward to encountering Hall this season in Region 7-AAAAA play. He considers the Gators’ coach somewhat of a mentor.
“He’s definitely had a major influence on me as a coach,” Mullins said. “We did a lot of stuff at Colleton County that we did at Goose Creek. I tweaked what we did to fit our personnel. I think we only played each other in summer camps. It will be interesting to go up against him. He had a great impact on me as a coach.”
Coach Matthew Mullins just completed his 4th season as Head Coach at Colleton County High School. In those 4 seasons at Colleton County the team won 2 Region Championships (the first ever in Colleton County history), had 1 All-State Selection, 2 Region Player of the Year selections, 9 All Region players, and had 4 players move on to play at the college level. Coach Mullins was also named Region 7-4A Coach of the Year for the 2019-2020 season. Before coming to Colleton he spent 4 years as the JV Head Coach and Varsity Assistant Coach at Goose Creek High. His best year at Goose Creek came in 2017 when the Varsity team finished 22-3, went undefeated in Region 7-5A, and only lost one game to a team from the state of South Carolina. Prior to that he spent 3 years as the JV Head Coach and Varsity Assistant at First Baptist School where he also played in high school. In 2012 the team won a State Championship, finishing 25-9 overall. He Graduated from Winthrop University in 2011 with a degree in Physical Education and was a student assistant with the Men’s Basketball team. In 2014 he completed his Masters in Educational Leadership.