Over the last eight seasons Sam Tarlton has taken North Greene boys basketball to new heights, but the opportunity to return home was too good to pass up and on Monday David Crockett High School announced Tarlton as its next boys basketball coach.
Tarlton was a standout player at David Crockett during his prep career, and when presented with the opportunity to coach at his alma mater he felt he had to take it.
“This was about coming back home. I’m from there, I graduated from Crockett,” Tarlton said. “I felt like we built something special at North Greene, but when the opportunity presented itself to come back home I just felt like that was the best thing for me and my family.”
North Greene gave Tarlton his first high school head coaching job at 23 years old, and he certainly made the most of it, taking the Huskies to the state tournament five times in his eight years leading the program. And the chance North Greene took on a young coach is not lost on Tarlton.
“North Greene is a great community and great school. I’ll never forget how well the staff and community treated me,” Tarlton said. “I’ll always cherish my time there. They took a chance on me. I’m really proud of what we built, and that is a credit to the school, to the community and to the players. I don’t have anything but good things to say about North Greene.”
In his eight seasons at North Greene Tarlton’s teams went 208-78, good for a .727 winning percentage and making him the second winningest coach in program history. He is only surpassed by Jerome Woolsey, who the gymnasium at North Greene is named after. The Huskies set a record for wins in a season under Tarlton with 34 in 2021. He won four District 1-1A championships and four Region 1-4A championships with the Huskies. North Greene boys basketball has advanced to the state tournament seven times in its history and Tarlton was at the helm for five of them.
“If all you had in front of you was the numbers it would be obvious that this was the most successful boys basketball coaching tenure in the history of our school,” North Greene athletic director James Buchanan said. “It was actually the second longest tenure at our school. We appreciate his time here. Five trips to the state tournament in eight years is special. He would attribute that to his players, but sometimes those players need to be developed and think that is what separates Sam compared to other coaches. He has been an exceptional coach in his time here.”
Last week North Greene announced it had hired Matt Weems as the program’s new head coach. Weems is a 2012 North Greene graduate and has coached at North Greene Middle the past six seasons.
At David Crocket Tarlton is replacing Cody Connell who left the Pioneers in May to take the head boys basketball job at Daniel Boone. Connell led the Pioneers to the Class 3A State Tournament in 2024.
