Northside Christian’s ‘Coach Hollywood’ continues to chase high school basketball state titles

Northside Christian School girls’ basketball coach Donnell Rhyne picked up the nickname “Hollywood” as a football and basketball player when he attended West Charlotte High School in the early 1990s.

Now in his seventh year as a high school head girls’ basketball coach, Rhyne’s success rate — 139 wins and four state titles — have made him “Coach Hollywood.”

“it was just a was a sports figure name when I played,” Rhyne said, “and it just carried over when I starting coaching basketball. When I played football and basketball, I tried to put on a show and kind of be silly with it. And they would say, ‘Oh, that’s Hollywood.’”

With or without theatrics, what Rhyne has done as a coach the past four years has been to win a state championship each year.

After setting a N.C. High School Athletic Association record with three straight Class 4A state titles from 2020 to 2022 at Chambers, Rhyne guided Northside to a N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association Class 1A state title last season.

Just don’t get the impression Rhyne has inherited powerful programs and added to their success. Far from it.

Chambers hadn’t had a winning season in 18 years before Rhyne was hired in 2016, and last season was Northside’s first state title in 34 years. As recently as the 2020-21 season, Northside Christian didn’t even have a team.

So what is Rhyne’s recipe for success?

Family, defense and taking a coaching legend’s advice on offensive strategy.

“You’ve got to have a family that supports you,” Rhyne said. “I run the zone press defense. And it’s a good defense. Then I had a cheat code. I went to a basketball clinic hosted by (Basketball Hall of Fame Tennessee women’s basketball coach) Pat Summitt. I asked her if she was coaching high school, what would she run. And she said the triangle offense. And I’ve been running the triangle offense for eight years.”

It’s the same offense another Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, parlayed into NBA championship success with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

It’s an offense that rewards unselfish team play in the name of creating the best offensive opportunities.

At Northside Christian last year, Rhyne had to turn a low preseason turnout into success last season.

Starting off with a roster of two returning players and a soccer player (Tyler Clyburn) who recently received a college scholarship offer in that sport from Auburn, Rhyne’s Knights went 23-10 after a slow start that included seven double-digit losses. Then Northside hit its stride, winning 17 of its last 19 games for the state title.

Three of Northside Christian’s losses last year came against eventual NCISAA 3A state champion Concord Academy — and the Knights are the only Class 1A school in the Metrolina Conference.

This season, Rhyne has a youthful team that he hopes will pursuit another title.

Senior guard Imani Wolmack, sophomore guard Brianna Carelock and freshman guard Courtney Ashford are the top returnees and junior Laylah Toscano, sophomore Destiny Chambers, eighth-grader Jakaila Gaskin and seventh-grader Morgan Field are the top newcomers. Carelock and Gaskin are rated among the top players in their respective classes statewide and are receiving NCAA Division I recruiting attention.

“I just tell them the expectation is to win the state championship,” Rhyne said of this year’s team. “Can that happen every year? No. But if you set the standard high, then they’ll do whatever they can to reach it.”