Honey Grove Independent School District recently filled its head boys basketball coaching vacancy at the high school. The Warriors basketball program will now compete under the leadership of Homer Garner after previous head coach Cody Vick landed at Prairiland High School as an assistant coach.
Garner, who has previous coaching experience at Chisum, Trenton and North Lamar High Schools, knows the importance of how his experience was key in landing the job at Honey Grove.
“When you’re from a certain place, you have connections,” Garner said. “Word travels that certain positions need to be filled, and it just so happened that it worked out for me to return to my hometown that I grew up in.”
This specific stop on Garner’s coaching journey is special and unique from the others. Garner was a prominent high school athlete in his days as a Honey Grove Warrior athlete and attempting to restore the prowess and prestige he and his teammates shared in the past is a part of his mission to coach at Honey Grove.
“When you go back to your hometown, and knowing they have been struggling as a boys basketball program, you take pride in wanting to get it back to where it was in the ’80s and ’90s,” Garner said. “They have had good seasons, but we were winning 25-plus games as a perennial power back in the ’80s and ’90s, so I want to turn things around and get things back in the right direction. They have the facilities, and if we can get the kids on board with a winning culture, I think it is set up to be a place for success.”
Garner and his accomplishments are recognized locally, and Honey Grove knew that hiring the esteemed coach and prominent alum was the right move in getting the basketball program back on track.
“He was coaching at Chisum during all the years I was at Prairiland and he ran one of the best basketball programs around,” Honey Grove athletic director Glen Schuelke said. “He had some really good teams and turned programs around everywhere he went. Him (Garner) being from Honey Grove makes it special and he is the natural fit to turn things around here.”
A program rebuild takes time, effort and dedication all at a consistent level. Garner knows success will not come overnight, but he is in it for the long haul as his personal drive and the potential he sees at Honey Grove are both promising in this quest.
“Coming off the season where they were 2-23 last year, you are going to have high expectations for yourself wherever you go,” Garner said. “You want to bring the experience with you wherever you go as it has been with Chisum, Trenton and North Lamar. So it may not happen this year, but I feel hopeful that the same type of thing can happen at Honey Grove.”
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