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Dustin Patton has a history of winning wherever he goes.
Between three seasons as Nashville Christian’s girls head coach and two as Goodpasture’s boys coach, Patton compiled a record of 140-38. That doesn’t even include the 121-11 record he compiled in eight seasons as Goodpasture’s junior varsity coach.
Those winning ways will now be headed towards DCA as Patton has been named the new girls head coach at the school.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to coaching girls,” Patton said. “I had some success at Nashville Christian doing that. I loved my time at Goodpasture and coached some incredible kids but being closer to home and getting back to the girls side of basketball is something I’m excited for.
…DCA is in a place where there’s a lot of people in the area who are really talented. They’ve had a lot of success over the last few years and even before that. I think the program has a chance to be really, really good at girls basketball and I hope that I can do that.”
Last season Patton led Goodpasture to the Division II-A semifinals. While the Cougars came up short of their ultimate goal of winning a state championship, Patton coached one of the state’s best in Mr. Basketball winner Jayden Jones.
His resume as a whole includes four district regular season championships, four district tournament championships, four state tournament appearances, three coach of the year awards and 19 all-district players.
Nine of his former players have also gone on to play ball at the college level.
With all of those accolades in mind, when long-time DCA coaches Karen and Keith Singer stepped down, Patton was the first name they reached out.
“The passion they want to have for girls basketball really stands out,” Patton said. “When they stepped down they immediately reached out to me and I think that says a lot. There’s some talented players already there and some young players as well.
…I’m looking forward to building that program up and making it one of the best in the area. There’s so many good girls players in the area and I think DCA’s in a good spot to take the next jump.”
Patton’s philosophy is focused on more than just winning
For most, winning has become the only thing that matters in today’s modern landscape of basketball.
While winning is important, Patton’s philosphy focuses in on something more than that. A relationship-first coach at every stop he’s been at, Patton said that a big thing for him is that his players know that the coaches love them all.
He also wants his players to love each other like a family.
“Winning is important but it’s not the most important thing,” Patton said. “These kids are going through a stage in life where they’re trying to build life-long memories and things that they can look back on and remember. I want as many of those memories as possible to be great. and think that’s kind of what’s gotten lost in our game.
…If it’s all about winning, I think there’s a lot negative that can go into that. Making every day fun and enjoyable but making every day a way that we can get better the right way is what we’re going to hang our hats on. The culture of the program will be to love the kids and have the kids love each other. I think if we do that then we’re going to be successful in whatever we do.”
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