Lincoln boys basketball finding early success in Colville's return to sidelines

It had been almost two years since Andy Colville had been at the helm of a Big Bend basketball program.

The longtime Godby head coach amounted to a record of 472-158 during his 13 seasons on Tharpe Street, including a 33-0 season and a state championship in 2015. Following the passing of his mother in 2020, Colville stepped away from the game to spend time with his family and take time to mourn the loss.

"I'm old, I'm tired and I'm blessed to be back," Colville said. "I stopped coaching because of my mom, but I know in my heart my biggest fan wanted me back."

In early June Colville announced his return to the Big Bend basketball scene, this time with Lincoln. Decked out in a green sweatsuit, capped off with green and black Nike's picked out by his daughters, Colville's passion and intensity were felt up and down Trojan Trail Monday night as Lincoln hosted Rickards.

While working with a younger group, Lincoln hasn't let its youth slow them down, jumping out to a 5-0 start, topping the Raiders, 53-38. It's been an adjustment for the players getting used to Colville's style, but he said that he could not be prouder of the team's effort to learn and improve every game.

"I'm so pleased with these guys," Colville said. "They had a great coach with Coach Anderson, but styles are really different. The change from his style to ours has been tougher, but they do everything I ask. I told them the tougher team tonight might win, and Rickards has a heck of a team and a heck of a program. They always play tough."

Rickards and Godby have cemented themselves as the top rivalry in the Big Bend, with Colville and Raiders longtime head coach Eli Bryant facing off over the years. While Colville and Bryant have been on competing sidelines for a while, they've been friends for even longer. Bryant was an assistant under Colville during his seven-year stint at Rickards before taking an assistant coaching position at The University of New Orleans.

Colville said that the program has been left in great hands and the Raiders have a great mentor to look up to in Bryant.

"Eli is amazing. We talk a few times a year just about dumb stuff," Colville said. "He's a great mentor to those young kids. When I left to go to the University of New Orleans, I'm so glad that Rickards High School got a guy like Eli Bryant to teach those young kids. He gives everything he has to those kids and that Southside program is always going to be better for it."

In the same light, Colville said he doesn't like going up against Bryant. He knows that Rickards is going to put his squad to the test, and it's not the most enjoyable experience trying to beat your friend's team. However, Colville said that he'd hate it more to lose to him than to play him.

Colville got the win over Bryant for the first time around this season as Lincoln prepares to move on Leon on Tuesday. The last time the Trojans faced off against the Lions was in the district tournament, where Leon upset Lincoln in semifinals 38-35. While Leon is also under new coaching, seeing Kelsey Jones take over the program this season, the Trojans' mentality is still focused on avenging that postseason loss.

"I told them to enjoy this until about 7:30 tomorrow morning," Colville said. "Leon beat us in the district tournament last year. We need to bring it every night. I've got a good group, but if we don't play well, we're going to lose. We need to play hard and try to be disciplined. I think we're a little further ahead than people might've thought, even me, but that doesn't mean anything."

While Lincoln has a different look this season, and Colville is on a completely opposite side of town, the goal remains the same to get to Lakeland. Lincoln's last trip to the state tournament was in 2017 when it made it to the 8A championship game before falling to Tampa Sickles.

"I may be crazy, but every year I coach, we're trying to get to Lakeland," Colville said. "Whether people believe that or not, that's our goal. We rather set our goals high, even if we don't achieve them. If I'm coaching, we're trying to get to Lakeland. That will be every year."

Lincoln (5-0): 14, 15, 15, 9 - 53

Rickards (4-1): 16, 6, 8, 8 - 38

Lincoln: Bates 5 3-6 15, Ervin 5 4-7 14, Walker 2 5-8 9, Coley 2 4-5 8, Mutanga 1 2-2 5, Yon 1 0-2 2. Totals 16 18-30 53.

Rickards: Pompey 4 3-6 13, Gallon 1 4-4 6, Davis 2 0-0 5, Washington 2 0-0 4, Plummer 1 0-0 3, Perry 1 0-0 2, Person 1 0-0 2, Adams 1 0-0 2, Morris 0 1-3 1. Totals 13 8-13 38.

3-pointers: Lincoln 3 (Bates 2, Muntanga 1). Rickards 3 (Pompey 1, Morris 1, Davis 1).

Area scores

Basketball (B): Lincoln 53, Rickards 38; Godby 71, Chiles 49.

Basketball (G): Altha 38, St. John Paul II 26; North Florida Christian 53, Jefferson County 12; Aucilla Christian 54, Bell 21; Lincoln 58, Godby 23.

Soccer (B): St. John Paul II 6, Jefferson County 1; Maclay 6, Lincoln 1

Soccer (G): Florida High 3, P.K. Yonge 1; Maclay 2, Leon 1.

Jack Williams covers prep sports for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams. 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Lincoln boys basketball improves to 5-0 under Andy Colville