Middlesboro High School officially introduced Eddie Gilbert II as the new Yellow Jacket head basketball coach on Monday afternoon at the Central Arts Auditorium.

“This is very big to me,” Gilbert said. “I’ve really been wanting to do this since as long as I’ve been playing. I wanted to come back and coach. I helped coach football and basketball. I helped football six years, basketball 10 years. I did middle school baseball for three years, but this is the job I wanted.”

Athletic Director Ben Slusher opened the ceremony and introduced Gilbert to the crowd of MHS players, fans and alumni.

“We are welcoming a new era of Middlesboro High School basketball,” he said. “We pride ourselves on core values of tradition, grit and strong commitment to excellence both on and off the court. We weren’t just looking for a coach, we were looking for a mentor, a motivator, and someone who understands what it means to be a Yellow Jacket.”

Gilbert checks all of those boxes as a multi-sport letter winner in basketball, football and baseball during his time at MHS. He has served as an assistant coach for both high school and middle school football and has been an assistant basketball coach at MHS for the last ten seasons.

“He understands the heartbeat of our town because he’s lived it,” Slusher said. “He not only brings experience as a former collegiate athlete, but as a dedicated assistant coach he has poured years and countless hours into helping our program and our students grow. . . There is no one who loves Middlesboro more than coach GIlbert.”

The 2009 graduate wants to restore the pride and success in Middlesboro basketball, which has not achieved a winning season since the 2019-2020 season.

“I’ve worked toward this for basically my whole life so I could come back and coach at my home school,” Gilbert said. “I love this place. I’ll do whatever I can to help these kids get better and go in the right direction in life.”

He thanked Isasc Wilson for giving him his first job as an assistant coach for the Yellow Jacket as well as Lewis Morris and John Wheat for keeping him on their staff over the last ten years.

“Those are three great mentors and I feel like I’ve learned a lot from all of them,” Gilbert said. “We’ve got a good group of kids — I’ve been coaching this group of seniors since they were in seventh grade. I’m just excited and ready to get to work with this group of young men and get back to the winning ways. This is a good group of kids to get that started.”

Gilbert becomes Middlesboro High School’s first-ever African American head coach in any boys varsity sport.

“I’ve been in love with Middlesboro basketball since I was a young kid hearing stories of my dad winning back-to-back Regional Championships and playing at Rupp,” Gilbert said. “Our whole family is Middlesboro people, we love the community and I’m just glad to get this opportunity to coach at my alma mater.”