Brookhaven High alum Darrian Wilson was back in a familiar spot on Monday, as he led his Itawamba Community College Indians in a MACCC men’s basketball matchup against Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson.

Wilson played in Mullen Gymnasium as a member of the CLCC basketball team from 2016-2018 under former head coach Kenny Bizot.

After Co-Lin, Wilson spent four years at Jackson State, playing for the Tigers during a time when he was thrice voted team captain by his peers.

Growing up as the son of longtime Brookhaven High basketball coach Preston Wilson, Darrian always knew that coaching basketball was in his future.

“I was probably in 7th grade when I first started telling people I was going to be a basketball coach one day,” he said prior to tipoff on Monday. “I can remember people trying to talk me out of it even back then, telling me that there were better paying careers I could choose. I’ve always wanted to do this, and I tried to set myself up for it by being a leader when I was playing.”

Wilson took his first assistant job at ICC under former head coach Grant Pate in 2022. In his two seasons as an assistant coach, the Indians went a combined 43-13.

When Pate announced his plans to retire at the conclusion of last season, Itawamba moved quickly to announce that Wilson would replace him.

With a 91-83 win over Co-Lin on Monday, Wilson’s first team as head coach moved to 23-4 on the season and 10-2 in the MACCC. Itawamba is 11-0 at home and has won six in a row with two regular season games remaining on the schedule.

Jones College (25-3, 11-1 MACCC) and Pearl River (22-5, 11-2 MACCC) are the teams battling with ICC at the top of the MACCC standings as the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament will be the next step for those schools after the conclusion of the regular season.

Wilson’s first team has good size and experience, with the starting lineup on Monday featuring three sophomores that stand at least 6-foot-6.

During his time at Jackson State, Wilson played for Wayne Brent, a state championships winning coach in his career that included stops at Provine High, Piney Woods School, and Callaway High along with a stint as an assistant coach at Ole Miss.

“I call on Coach Brent a lot, I think he’s an all-time great at coaching defense and figuring out schemes of how to slow a guy down,” said Wilson. “I didn’t give him a call this week though, even though Co-Lin has a guy that can really score in Deven Bates, out of respect for how far back he goes with Coach Sanders at Co-Lin.”

CLCC head coach David Sanders was a standout guard for Brent at Provine who then later played at Ole Miss when his former coach was an assistant on the staff in Oxford and followed him as head coach at Callaway High.

Naturally, Wilson leans on his dad too. Preston Wilson has coached some of the best teams, both boys and girls, in Brookhaven High basketball history.

The move from assistant to head coach for the younger Wilson has gone swimmingly thus far and it’s a journey he’s not taking for granted.

“Day to day, there are duties that you’ve got to handle as a head coach, such as budgeting and travel, but Coach Pate really allowed me to do a lot of game planning and practice planning while I was his assistant,” said Wilson.

All that coupled with recruiting that takes him all over Mississippi and into neighboring states has Wilson busier than ever, which is like a dream come true.

“This is what I’ve always wanted to do,” said Wilson. “I can’t imagine a job better than the one I’ve got and I’m grateful for it every day.”