Stagg Takes Over Women's Basketball Program

As a longtime basketball coach, Keith Stagg has learned many student-athletes aren't ready athletically or academically for a big-time four-year institution right out of high school. He knows colleges below the Division I level, including those at community colleges, can be the bridge for those athletes.

Stagg, the new women's coach at Thomas Nelson, is hoping to build one of those bridges on the Peninsula.

"I thought it would be a great place to help them earn an associate's degree as well as working on their basketball game and getting some life lessons," Stagg said of Thomas Nelson and its students.

That's where the knowledge he has accumulated in more than 20 years of coaching, from AAU to high school to colleges, will come in handy.

"I just thought there are some things I would like to implement to help a student-athlete get to their goal," he said. "I thought Thomas Nelson would be a great place to apply those things."

Stagg was an assistant coach at West Virginia Wesleyan for two years before taking over the women's program at Apprentice in 2012-13. He then was the boys basketball coach at Warwick High School for two years. He was out of coaching last season because of the pandemic. (Although he said he felt much longer.) He sees a lot of similarities between Apprentice and Thomas Nelson.

"Our students had a very rigorous academic program as well as having to go to work and having to come and play basketball," he said of the Apprentice School. "They had three components they had to juggle."

Many of the athletes at Thomas Nelson face the same challenge, but Stagg is optimistic he can do for the Gators what he did for the Builders. It's not all about winning. He wants to develop a place that is conducive to learning and improving.

"That's the environment I try to create," he said. "I learned that from being at the Apprentice School. … That's the challenge, just creating a culture where these young ladies know we can meet them where they are and then help them ascend to a higher place."

While official practices can't start until Oct. 15, Stagg and his staff are trying to identify potential players. Thomas Nelson did have a season last year because of the pandemic, but he does have five returning players. He is holding workouts at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-5 p.m.

"They are trying to get to know me and understand exactly what we're trying to do with the new program," he said.

Anyone interested in playing is welcome to join the workouts.

He said his main goals right now are compiling a full roster of 15 players and moving the program forward, making it thrive.

"We're trying to identify as many student-athletes as we can for the 2021, '22 and '23 seasons," he said. "We're aggressively going after these next two or three years."

With what he has seen on the Peninsula, he doesn't think he will have to go far.

"There's a wealth of talent here in the area," he said. "That's one of the other parts that was really enticing in taking the job."

His plan is to focus on the local players.

"We feel like if we can fill our roster with good players from this area, we think we'll have a good team," he said.

Stagg, who lives in Suffolk and works as a director of support professionals for developmentally disabled adults, began his coaching career in 2000. Other stops along the way, in addition to AAU teams, were Phoebus boys (2000-03), Christiana High School in Delaware, and Wilmington University. He graduated from Delaware State with a bachelor's degree in physical education in May 2000. He was a member of the basketball team from 1994-97.

His assistants this season are Leroy Skinner and Jasmine Greene. Skinner graduated from Nansemond River High School, and then played at Mount Aloysius University in Pennsylvania. He's been a coach for 15 years, seven at the college level. His is the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.

Greene is a graduate of Tabb High School. She went on to play at Hollins University, where she scored more than 1,700 points in her career. She played professionally for five years overseas and in the United States. She is the basketball performance development coordinator and basketball operations director.