Anthony Fletcher has passed one of his titles on to a former player.

With 13 years of coaching experience, Dexter Young is stepping up as Eastfield’s new men’s basketball head coach and hoping to build on Fletcher’s success.

“They’ve been to the championship,” Young said. “Our goal this time is to win it.”

The Harvester Bees are off to a strong start in Young’s first season with a 3-1 record. On Nov. 1, Eastfield set a new school record for most points in a game in Young’s debut, beating Creating Young Minds Prep 186-91 behind a school-record 13 3-pointers from freshman Tylan Harris.

Fletcher, who has been Eastfield’s basketball coach and athletic director for 16 years, was an assistant coach at Angelo State University when Young was a player.

Their relationship since then has guided them to the positions they have now, and Fletcher said he believed in Young from the start.

Young has over a decade of experience coaching at various levels of college and high school basketball. In 2013, Young was the special assistant coach at NCAA Division I Chicago State under Tracy Dildy, who is now Detroit Mercy’s head coach.

He was also an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at NCAA Division II Fresno Pacific University, where he helped coach John Taylor, the JUCO National Player of the Year, as well as Malcolm Griffin, a transfer from Toledo University who is currently playing professionally in the biggest league in Greece.

In 2021, Young was the head coach of Premier Academy Prep, which played against some of the top high school teams in the nation.

However, he decided to make a change when he saw the opportunity to work with Fletcher again at Eastfield.

Last season, Eastfield posted a 27-8 record overall and an 8-2 record in conference play. Eastfield lost twice to North Lake during regular-season conference play and then got a rematch in the district championship game.

A back-and-forth game between the two top teams ended with Eastfield winning by one point, 84-83.

“Everyone thought we were going to lose to North Lake in the championship because they were the only team we lost to during conference play,” sophomore guard Jacore Williams said.

Eastfield has been busy recruiting this off-season as Williams is the only returning player.

Williams posted 7.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game last season. Williams hopes his playoff experience will rub off on the incoming freshmen.

Fletcher’s success as a coach was based on a run-and-gun offensive style. Although Young appreciates Fletcher’s offense, he says he wants everyone on the team to be able to contribute offensively.

“I really liked Kentucky under Rick Pitino back in the day,” Young said. “Any position on the court can shoot the ball.”

Under a new system and coach, some of the players are adjusting to different roles.

Young is already familiar with one player at Eastfield. Weeny Rutherford played at Premier Academy Prep last season and is now an incoming freshman. He committed to the Harvesters before learning that Young would be the head coach.

“For him to help me so much as a kid and mentor me, it’s truly special for him to be my college coach,” said Rutherford.

Young says Rutherford, nicknamed Motor, is a great addition to the team.

“We want hustle, and we want grit. That’s Motor,” he said.

Young is excited to see what the other incoming freshmen can do as well.

“We have a lot of talent, so we should win a lot of games if I do my job right” Young said. “I think we have enough firepower. Not 6 or 7 guys but 9, 10, 11, 12 guys that can actually play. So I hope I’m able to add something to Fletcher’s greatness and take the guys to a championship level to win it. That’s the only thing I’m thinking about. Why am I here if I’m not trying to win the national championship from Day 1?”