Changes are coming to the Quitman boys basketball team for the upcoming 2022-23 school year.

After nearly a decade of being the school’s boys basketball coach, Chris Coleman is moving into an administrative role as an assistant principal and athletic director at Heidelberg. Taking his place will be Kelvin Nixon, who is a former assistant basketball coach at Quitman.

“I’m excited about it,” Coleman said of this new chapter in his life. “I felt like it was my time to give up basketball and let someone else get the opportunity. Coach Nixon is going to coach my son, so it’s definitely exciting to have someone I’m familiar with and my son is excited about taking over as coach.”

Coleman has spent the past several years as Quitman’s athletic director, a role he wanted to maintain at his new job along with going into administration.

“My plans in education exceed being a basketball coach,” Coleman explained. “I’m looking forward to growing as an administrator and growing more as an athletic director.”

Nixon coached under Coleman for a year before becoming an assistant women’s basketball coach at Pearl River Community College. His most recent job has been an assistant at Jones College under men’s basketball coach Randy Bolden, who used to coach at Meridian High School. Coleman raved about Nixon’s coaching ability and said the Panthers’ program will be in good hands based on Nixon’s coaching experience and his brief tenure at Quitman as an assistant.

“Player development, in-depth knowledge of the game (are his strengths),” Coleman said. “Even at a young age with not much experience, he really understood the game, from game planning to scouting to breaking down film and player personnel.”

As a student-athlete at Jones College, Nixon said Coleman would often let him work out at South Jones when Coleman worked there, and that’s how their friendship first blossomed. After his playing days were over, Nixon wanted to get into coaching, and Coleman was one of the first coaches to offer him a job.

“I really enjoyed my time at Quitman in 2015,” Nixon said. “I had an opportunity to step into a college role after my first year, and when this opportunity presented itself I was ecstatic to apply. When I got the offer, I was grateful and excited.”

Nixon was approved by Quitman’s school board on June 13, and he’s been working out with the returning players for just more than a week during their summer team activities.

“The good thing is the foundation is already set,” Nixon said. “They come from a really good coach and know how to play hard and play together, and they know how to win. My thing is to just come in and put my spin on it. It was already a successful program, I just want to take it to new heights.”

As he reflects on his time at Quitman, Coleman said he’s grateful to the students, faculty and community for embracing him and his boys basketball program.

“Nine years,” Coleman said. “We made it to the state tournament four times, played for the state championship in 2015, made it back to the state tournament in 2016, and eight of the nine years we played for the divisional championship and won four. We’ve had multiple 20-win seasons and two Dandy Dozens, so I can’t say enough about them. It’s been a pleasure to work with them and coach these kids, and the community is amazing. Their support for basketball is phenomenal, and the best is yet to come. There’s more talent (coming up), and Coach Nixon will have an opportunity to take it to the next level. I’m very confident he’ll have more success than I had there.”

Nixon said he’s thrilled about the opportunity and agrees that the future is bright for boys basketball at Quitman.

“I’m looking forward to getting out in the community and supporting all the sports at Quitman and building these kids up both athletically and academically,” Nixon said.