By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

CALERA – Calera has three high school basketball state championship banners hanging from its gymnasium rafters. The Eagles won the 1A title in 1996 and the 2A title in 1997 and 2005. The Eagles current head coach, George Drake, is one of the primary reasons the 2005 championship banner is in the gym, and wants to return the program he grew up in back to its former glory.

Drake is entering his third season as the head coach at Calera. A graduate of the school back in 2005, he played college ball at Vanderbilt and UAB before becoming the assistant director of basketball operations at UAB.

“I actually didn’t see myself, this early, (coaching). I thought I’d still be playing,” Drake said on Oct. 3. “But God blessed me with the opportunity to coach and come back home, so it was a no-brainer. I wanted to come back home and coach basketball.”

Drake himself is if not the most, then one of the most decorated basketball players to graduate from Calera. Ever. Drake led Calera to the 2A state title game every year he was in high school from 2002-2005 and was the first player in Alabama history to be selected as the Most Valuable Player of the region four times, per his biography page on the Vanderbilt athletics website. He led the Eagles to a cumulative 121-19 record during his time at Calera and won the 2005 state title while garnering a McDonald’s All-American nomination. The man can play. Now, he is trying to find a way to return his alma mater to that pinnacle from the sidelines.

Unfortunately, it’s been a rough go so far. Last year’s team only won eight games, and graduated seven seniors as well, including its entire starting lineup. This year’s team is full of fresh faces, there’s just one senior on the roster, which excites Drake as opposed to worries him.

“We graduated a lot of kids, it’s night and day now,” Drake said. “We’re going to rely heavily on some young kids. I’m really excited about the young kids. They will be our future, which is one of the reasons they’re on varsity right now. It’s a whole new crew for us.”

Drake still isn’t sure who is going to start for this team. It’s still a work-in-progress he said, and all the spots are up for grabs. He’s also not sure what his team will look like from an offensive or defensive perspective yet. It’s all sorting itself out, he reiterated. What he is sure about is the attitude of the guys in his program now.

“I think this group that I have, especially with those young cats, they’re starting to buy in,” Drake said. “I’m familiar with where I’m trying to lead this program, and we’re definitely starting to go in that direction with this group. I firmly believe we have the group in place to get that mirror image of what I stand for and what I want our program to get back to.”

Calera travels to Marbury on Nov. 10 its first game of the season, and has its home opener on Nov. 13 when Montevallo comes to visit.