It’s hard to miss Josh Mitchell during a Lumberton boys basketball game.
The Raiders’ head coach can often be seen pacing up and down the sideline or heard shouting orders across the court to his players. When Lumberton wins, he’s the first one there celebrating with those players. When the Raiders lose, he always makes sure they know exactly why that happened.
It’s an in-your-face, tough-love style of coaching that might rub fans the wrong way at times, but it’s worked wonders at Lumberton. After leading the Raiders to their first district title in school history and reaching the Class 4A regional quarterfinals, Mitchell has capped the historic season as the Beaumont Enterprise Super Gold Boys Coach of the Year.
“I just stuck to my ways and believed in my kids,” Mitchell said. “As long as the kids buy into it and know that I want what’s best for them, I’m not going to change who I am.”
Mitchell had a strong case to win the same award last year. That Lumberton team set records, too, winning a playoff game for the first time in school history.
However, many of the Raider faithful were gearing up for a rebuilding year as the 2020-21 season approached. Sure, they had senior star Brock McClure, but all four other starters had graduated. Lumberton’s sixth man off the bench was gone, too.
The Raiders were picked to miss the playoffs, according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll, a fact that Mitchell and his team used as motivation all year long.
“I can guarantee you nobody picked Lumberton to win the district title,” Mitchell said. “But my motto has always been to prove people wrong.”
Lumberton did just that, going 11-1 in a difficult District 22-4A to capture the league championship. A win at Silsbee in early February was Lumberton’s first victory over the Tigers in more than two decades.
First-team Super Gold selection Brock McClure played a big part in that district championship, averaging 32 points and 12 rebounds per game. McClure signed to play at Lamar University late last year under previous Cardinals coach Tic Price.
“That kid let me coach him hard and never shied away from the challenge,” Mitchell said. “I will always have his back, because he’s had mine for the last four years — even during the hard times.”
Mitchell, a 2001 Lumberton graduate, also coaches baseball at the school. He was hired to lead the Raiders’ basketball team in 2013.
As for any other potential schools looking to poach him from Lumberton, Mitchell said he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. He has two teenage kids and plans to be a Raider for “at least six more years,” when they graduate.
“A lot of people thought Lumberton couldn’t win and we couldn’t do it my way,” Mitchell said. “Who knows when this will happen again at Lumberton? This season was something for the kids and the fans to remember for a long time.”
mfaye@beaumontenterprise.com
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