Lady Huskies coach downplays milestone
It took Tonya Hunter a few moments to even remember which game it was.
Make no mistake, Hunter’s 300th career win was a big deal. It’s a benchmark that few high school basketball coaches reach, and she reached it because she has experienced a great deal of success over the last 14 seasons as a head coach at Shades Valley and Hewitt-Trussville high schools.
But for Hunter, it’s not about the victories. When she picked up her 300th career win in a 66-46 victory over Oak Mountain on Nov. 30, she didn’t drum up much fanfare.
“I know what I’m supposed to do with my life,” she said. “I know what God has me to do, and it’s to help young kids. Three hundred wins is outstanding, but I just love all the relationships that came through those 300 wins.”
Hunter is in her fifth season at Hewitt-Trussville and has built the Lady Huskies program into one of the state’s best in Class 7A. She won a state title at Shades Valley in 2014 before taking the Hewitt job.
Hunter won a state championship as a player at Eufaula High in 1994, went on to play at the University of West Georgia and coached at Booker T. Washington High as an assistant right out of college. She spent a few years as an assistant at Auburn-Montgomery before taking the Shades Valley job in 2005.
She’s had many great influences over the years. Michael Smith was her head coach at Eufaula, and she coached under Steve Crotz at AUM. Jane Baker, the principal at Shades Valley, believed in her. It also helps that her husband, Cedric, has coached with her for the past 11 years.
Much has changed over the progression of her career, one that has included more than 20 of her players signing college scholarships to play in college. But there is still one constant.
“It’s still all about relationships,”she said.
Morgan William calls Hunter a “players-first” coach. Before William captivated the nation by draining the shot to lift Mississippi State over UConn in the 2017 NCAA Final Four, she was on that Shades Valley championship team.
“During my high school career, she made me feel like the best point guard in the country,” William said. “She developed us into young women and basketball players. I was so blessed to have her as a high school coach because my transition to college basketball was smooth.”
Katie Parr has worked with Hunter for nearly three years as an assistant coach at Hewitt-Trussville and has seen first-hand the growth of the Lady Huskies program in a short period of time.
“Her faith in God helps with her success,” Parr said. “Her tremendous work ethic, her game-planning, her love for the game and her ability to develop players. It’s incredible listening to her talk through situations or scenarios.”
For Hunter, Parr said it’s a balance between coaching the game and demonstrating care that makes her successful.
“She is very demanding of them, but she does it in a way where they respect her as a coach,” Parr said. They want to do what she is asking, they strive to do what she is asking them to do, because she builds relationships with them.”
William is an assistant coach at Oak Mountain this season and was on the other bench as her former coach registered win number 300. But she knows Hunter will always be in her corner.
“I can always count on her if I need anything,” William said.
The wins are likely to continue for Hunter and Hewitt-Trussville. But at the end of the day, it’s simply not the most important thing.
“If you’re a Tonya Hunter athlete, you can pick up the phone and call her at any point in time,” Parr said. That’s why she downplays the number, because she’s more concerned with the success of these kids after basketball.
“I think she deserves all the credit in the world and all the emphasis on that 300 wins, because it’s incredible.”