Eastern basketball coach David Henley on decision to retire after 500 wins and state title
Relaxing on a recent Sunday night, David Henley couldn’t help but smile upon hearing that famous clicking of the “60 Minutes” stopwatch coming from his TV.
“I’ll never think again, ‘Well, I have to go to school tomorrow,’” Henley said with a laugh.
After 36 seasons as a basketball coach — including the last 27 in Kentucky and the final 12 at Eastern High School — Henley is hanging up his whistle.
He made the decision to retire as a coach and teacher last month, just weeks after his Eagles completed a 22-10 season with a loss in the Seventh Region Tournament quarterfinals.
“I thought I’d coach until they buried me at midcourt,” Henley said. “But it was time for me to go.”
Henley, 58, has been around Kentucky high school basketball and the Sweet 16 for as long as he can remember.
He was 9 years old in 1975 when Carlisle County — coached by his father, Jim — won the First Region title and reached the Sweet 16 at Freedom Hall.
“I was the water boy,” Henley said. “I was at every practice after school, rode the bus to the games. I grew up with those players, and that’s where I learned basketball, getting yelled at when my ball rolled out on the floor.”
Henley was a senior guard on the 1982-83 Carlisle County team that played in one of the most memorable Sweet 16 finals ever, falling to Henry Clay 35-33 in triple overtime.
He went on to play baseball at Southern Illinois University but injured his pitching arm. He said he never wanted to be a coach — “I saw the parent part of it when my dad was coaching” — but volunteered as an American Legion baseball coach and “loved it.”
After nine years as an assistant basketball coach — including on the college level at Southern Illinois, Murray State and Duquesne — Henley was named the head coach at Holmes in 1997.
He’s one of a select group of boys basketball coaches in Kentucky history with 500 career victories (511-290 record) and a state championship (2009 at Holmes).
Eastern athletics director Joe Scheper called Henley “about as Kentucky high school basketball as they come,” which was reflected in the Eagles’ yearly schedules.
“We were always playing somebody that Henley knew or wanted to see,” said Scheper, who’s still in the process of finding Henley’s replacement. “I thought that was a really cool aspect of our schedule because it showed how much of a basketball person he was in the state of Kentucky.”
He also had the respect of rival coaches.
“He was always so calm and collected, and I always admired that about him,” said Greg Willis, head coach at 28th District rival Ballard. “He always did a good job of trying to expose our weaknesses. … When he was at Covington Holmes, he wins a state championship with big-time athletes playing a 2-3 zone. He comes to Eastern and he’s less zone, more (man-to-man) and has success with different styles of play.
“He always seemed to maximize his players’ potentials.”
The most successful part of Henley’s coaching career came during a five-season run (2004-09) in which he led Holmes to the Sweet 16 four times.
His 2007-08 team lost to Mason County 57-48 in the state final. Holmes bounced back to win the state title the following season, beating Central 67-63 in a thrilling double-overtime championship game.
Henley says he’s still in touch with assistant coaches and players from that team.
“Those guys were just so fun to be around,” Henley said. “(Star player) Elijah Pittman was incredibly talented. It didn’t matter if it was a drill in October or the state final, he was trying to kick your behind. That kind of carried over to the other guys. That had a lot to do with our success. I don’t know if he was our best player … but he worked so hard. It was so much fun with that group.”
Henley left Holmes for North Oldham in 2010. He coached the Mustangs for two years before taking the job at Eastern, where he went 195-149 in 12 seasons. His teams reached the Seventh Region semifinals three times but never could get over the hump in a region dominated by Ballard, Male and Trinity.
He’ll no longer have to worry about the Bruins, Bulldogs or Shamrocks going forward. Henley says he wants to spend time in Chicago, where his son, Jordan, is in school. He wants to make more frequent trips to Carlisle County, where his parents still live.
He already has a part-time job lined up at Valhalla Golf Club.
“I’ve never been anywhere on Thanksgiving or Christmas break,” Henley said. “I’ve worked my whole life — hauled hay, worked in a tobacco field. It’s time to enjoy it.”
KHSAA basketball: Chris Renner, after two years away, will return to sideline at Oldham County
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Follow on X @kyhighs.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA basketball: Eastern High School coach David Henley on retiring
