Porter takes over SoWal girls basketball program, believes there will be 'no dropoff’
SANTA ROSA BEACH — David Porter will come into the 2022-23 school year with huge shoes to fill and high expectations for his South Walton girls basketball program.
They aren’t feeling the pressure though.
Fresh off a regional semifinals appearance last season in legendary coach Kevin Craig’s swan song, the new Seahawks coach is hungry for more.
"Like I told the girls when I first took over, we can pick back up from what we had last year and build from that. I got high hopes for this team. You are just as good as the girls from last year that made it to the regional semifinals," said Porter.
He knows his team very well. He spent the last two years serving as an assistant under Hall-of-famer Craig, who retires with three state championships (two at FWB, one at SoWal), nearly 900 wins and 21 playoff appearances. Before that, Porter coached at Emerald Coast Middle School and AAU.
Porter never thought he would be coaching on the high school level and definitely not taking over for a legend.
"I was at the right place, at the right time,” he said. “A few years ago coach Craig would come to practice and see me work with the girls during the summer with AAU. He liked how the girls responded to me and eventually asked me to come on as an assistant under him."
Porter relished the opportunity to coach under Craig.
"To have the opportunity to learn from someone like that, being around him everyday for the past few seasons and walking into gyms with him, it was like I was with a celebrity,” Porter said. “Everything you hear about him is true.”
Porter took a lot from Craig while serving as his assistant, but the most important lesson was “if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.” He is using that approach for scheduling opponents this season.
"We are going to play bigger schools. I don’t care if we get beat but we need that experience, Porter said. “It's easy to beat up on schools in your area but I remind them that we are not trying to just be the best team in our area. We are going to play the Rutherfords, Choctaw, and other teams that are going to challenge us."
Porter and his girls have challenged themselves during summer workouts. So far, they have played in two of three summer tournaments scheduled. Porter believes the team is gelling very well together even though they lost a lot of talent.
"We only have two starters and two bench players returning this season. Everyone else is coming up from JV,” he said. “But I love that this group loves being in the gym, I can't keep them out of it. They want to get better everyday."
Porter believes if his team keeps taking this approach then “the sky is the limit” for them this season.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: South Walton Girls basketball under David Porter aims high
