End of an era: Longtime high school basketball coach Jerry Faulkner is retiring
After more than five decades as a coach, Jerry Faulkner is finally calling it a career.
Faulkner, the boys basketball coach at Hilton Head Prep the past 10 years, announced his retirement Wednesday. LowCo Sports was the first to report Faulkner’s retirement.
Hilton Head Prep later put it out on its Twitter and Facebook pages that Faulkner was done with coaching.
“We are grateful for Coach Faulkner’s 10 years of leadership. He will be missed,” HHP wrote on its Facebook page.
Faulkner won almost 900 games in his 55 years of coaching. His teams won more than 70 percent of their games and he was selected to coach in the McDonald’s All-American game in 2001.
Faulkner had stints with Hilton Head Christian and Hilton Head Prep during his time in the Lowcountry. He stepped down as coach of the Eagles in September 2010 after health concerns arose.
But he became motivated after speaking at Nike basketball clinics and other coaching seminars. His health has also improved since he stepped aside at Hilton Head Christian and took the job with Hilton Head Prep in 2012.
“I knew I still had a passion for the game, but I didn’t know if I ever wanted to coach again,” Faulkner told The Island Packet in 2012 after taking the job with Hilton Head Prep. “It really wasn’t in the cards. I wasn’t considering it until I got the call from Rich Basirico and I told him I’d think about it.”
Faulkner coached the Dolphins for 10 years and led them to the 2019 SCISA Class 2A championship with a 57-43 win over Shannon Forest. The win snapped Shannon Forest’s 28-game winning streak.
“Fabulous, fabulous,” Faulkner told The Island Packet after his team’s performance. “I think our defense played great.”
Before coming to Hilton Head, Faulkner was a successful coach at Charlotte Latin in North Carolina. At Latin, he went 515-157, won five state championships, and had only one losing season. He also coached several college players including Anthony Morrow, who went on to play in the NBA.
Faulkner was inducted in the Charlotte Lattin Hall of Fame in 2014.
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 12:22 PM.
