WINFIELD, W.Va. — With high school basketball season approaching, teams are gearing up for a winter on the hardwood.
However, the Winfield Generals boys basketball program is stuck in neutral following the sudden departure of head coach Chris Stephens.
Stephens, a Wheeling native, took to social media last week to address why he was stepping away from the sidelines at WHS for the upcoming year.
I had a very tough decision to make in the last week or so. I contemplated over hours and hours and little sleep. It’s never easy stepping away from something you love, but family will always come first for me. pic.twitter.com/FQmBOYX3uN
— Coach Stephens (@_CoachStephens) October 14, 2022
Stephens would have been entering his sixth season as the Generals boys’ head coach. He led Winfield to two state tournament appearances, including in his first season in 2018.
“There was a severe lack of integrity, courtesy, and professionalism with the school and board hiring practices, which should be examined from an ethical standpoint,” Stephens stated. “It involved filling the girls’ head coaching vacancy, which my wife applied to get. It’s not so much that she didn’t get the job. There was no interview process [their new policy states that interviews are not required], but you would think that for a high school job, you’d want to make sure you were choosing the correct candidate.
“You don’t want the position to be given just to a buddy of the hiring party. Take the time and effort to vet all candidates and choose the best coaching option using everything at your disposal. You would think that the person who kept everything together during the hiring process would be eligible for an interview or communication throughout this process. Also, it isn’t a requirement by the school or board, but as someone who has always had extreme loyalty to a school and community for as long as I have, I expected more.
“However, you gave a man a job over a woman over a single piece of paper for a resume, and I am not saying that is the sole reason. I believe some individuals had a hand in the way of this. I’m a big believer in making your own luck and karma on the court by playing hard and doing it correctly. Karma will eventually catch up with them as well.”
There are other reasons Stephens didn’t wish to disclose in regards to him stepping away from the program that gave him his first head coaching job. However, he does wish to be situated differently.
“You deal with a lot of stuff outside of basketball as a high school coach, and that comes with the territory,” Stephens said. “Those things are dealt with because you know you’re doing the right things for the team. This situation directly impacted my family, and it was something I couldn’t stand for as a husband and a dad to a young girl.”
Stephens mentioned in his post what “means more than anything currently” is being a husband to his wife, Kristen, and a father to his kids, Kalani and Chris Jr.
He sees this next stage as an opportunity to spend more time with his family.
“I will have a lot of the time that a basketball season consumes to spend more time with family,” Stephens noted. “I will be able to spend the holidays with my family. However, I will still make time to watch games and support our boys. I’m focused on my family and work.”
Stephens did, however, close the door on coaching for now.
“If I end up getting an opportunity to coach again and the urge to get back into it, I’ll address it then,” Stephens said. “I have no plans to jump back in right away. I still feel loyal to our boys, and I don’t feel I could jump back in with another team that isn’t Winfield.”
The Generals came one game short of reaching the Class AAA state tournament last season when they fell to Scott in a Region IV co-final.
The expectations are high this season for the team, which returns a plethora of young talent and senior Ross Mussick, a Class AAA honorable mention pick last season.
“They have a talented bunch through the program from top to bottom,” Stephens noted. “They have shooters and will have more length once football finishes up the great season they are having. Triple-A will still be a challenging class this year. You play the regular season to prepare for the postseason and hope to be clicking on all cylinders when sectional play starts. They have the talent to get right back to a regional game and win that one. Then you go make a run at a state championship.”
Stephens is fond of his team’s accomplishments during his tenure and saw his time in Putnam County as a memorable experience.
“Our two final four runs, where we had to upset a three seed my first year and two seed in 2021,” Stephens said of what he’ll remember most. “There are all the big games we had, and that’s almost too many to recount here. We also had multiple buzzer-beating and rivalry wins, hosting two regional home games, competing against my dad, alma mater, my high school coach, and all the other little memories that don’t stick out immediately.
“When former players bring them up, you can laugh at them or talk about things that may have reached beyond basketball. One thing that I know I’ll miss is just all the preparation and process that goes into a basketball season. Developing our boys, working toward perfection, the practice time and time spent with the boys, scouting games, prepping for games, and then being able to go out there and put to the test what you’ve worked on, and then learn and grow from each competition and year to year.”
This scenario is not the first time a Winfield team is under a new direction on short notice. Before the 2017-18 season, Stephens’ first season, Bryan England left the Generals in August of 2017 following a three-year term.
Winfield has yet to name a replacement for Stephens, who finishes his WHS tenure with a 68-53 record. He is the son of accomplished Wheeling Central boys basketball head coach Mel Stephens.
High school basketball practice starts statewide November 14 and teams can begin playing games December 6.