Terry Henderson helped turn the Mount Vernon girls basketball program into a regional contender. Now the coach is going back where his high school career began.
Henderson on May 20 accepted the position of head boys basketball coach at Edison. Henderson, a 1988 graduate of the school, was a varsity assistant with the program for two seasons before coming to Mount Vernon. While at Edison, he also coached the freshman boys team for one season and the junior varsity boys team for a season.
"One of the main reasons [I took the job] is the fact that it’s my alma mater," he said. "That’s where I started playing basketball. … I still have a lot of ties to the community."
Henderson arrived at Mount Vernon in 2007, spending one season as a varsity boys assistant and the head JV boys coach. He then spent two seasons as head varsity girls coach, amassing a 39-10 record.
During the 2008-09 season, he led the Majors to a 24-3 record and a trip to the regional semifinals. The following season Mount Vernon went 15-7 and reached the regional quarterfinals.
"It really was a tough decision," Henderson said. "It’s bittersweet. It would be a whole lot easier if I didn’t have a job and I was going to Edison than to leave the girls and the boys and all the relationships" at Mount Vernon.
Henderson said he’s in the process of familiarizing himself with whom the Eagles have returning for the 2010-11 season and identifying potential contributors who aren’t already in the program.
Mount Vernon Assistant Athletic Director Tony Garza said the head girls basketball coaching vacancy has yet to be advertised and the search for a new coach will likely not begin until August or September.
"Coach Henderson’s time at Mount Vernon has been very successful," Garza said. "The last two years he’s taken … our girls basketball program … to new heights."