Forty-six years. A total of 50 seasons.

 

That is how long Dennis Hutson has coached, and how many seasons he has coached. If you think the math is wrong, it is probably because you are too young to remember when the boys’ and girls’ basketball seasons were not at the same time and Hutson spent four years coaching both.

 

It is one of the few math problems you will ever see solved in this blog. I am not good at math. Dennis Hutson, however, is good at coaching, and not just because of longevity – and we’ll get back to that.

 

I bring up Hutson’s tenure because he is retiring. Yes, he is retiring again although this time he insists it is for good. I honestly thought his time was done after taking the Bridgeport High School girls’ basketball team to Charleston in his last year with the Indians in 2018-2019.

 

At that time, he announced his retirement. It lasted six months.

 

He had a chance to be an assistant coach at Salem International University. He spent one year there serving with former Coach Cody Gilmore before stepping down again. This time, his hiatus lasted a full year before he returned to coach the Liberty girls’ basketball program during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.

 

Huston’s resignation was recently accepted by the Harrison County Board of Education. It is official this time.

 

Seriously.

 

“I’m tired is probably the biggest of a few reasons. Sometimes you’ve got to know when to say when. I’ve been really slow on learning that,” said Hutson with a chuckle. “I’m 68 and it takes so much work and time and there are other things I need to do and want to do and, as I’m very well aware, life is fragile so I want to take advantage of having time with my wife.

 

“I know people think I’ll be back, but I’m serious this time,” he continued. “Besides, my wife said I better be serious this time.”

 

Still, it was not an easy decision.

 

“One of the things that makes it hard is not seeing a few of our juniors through to the end. That troubled me,” he said. “It’s time for someone with a new philosophy, some new blood to carry it on.”

 

There was one other thing that played a part in the process. Although his resignation was submitted prior to it passing, Hutson said he felt strongly the “Transfer Portal” bill would get the okay from the West Virginia Legislature and he did not want to stick around to see it.

 

“It wasn’t the deciding factor, but it played into my decision. It was the biggest mistake the Legislature could have made regarding sports. They’ve created a high school transfer portal and you already see what it is doing to college,” said Hutson. “Liberty, and smaller schools, will likely be hurt more than any others. This is just shortsighted thinking and no one involved in deciding this, I’m aware of, asked any local coach their thoughts on it.”

 

Hutson said his time at Liberty was upbeat, but did say the program slid a bit in the second year. He said being the smallest Class AAA basketball program in West Virginia required getting all the athletes available to come out in order to be successful. It did not happen.

 

“You don’t necessarily need to be a great basketball player, but when you have such small numbers compared to the rest of the classification, you need all the athletes,” said Hutson. “We didn’t have it, but we still had kids who gave it everything.”

 

Hutson has given a vast majority of his life to coaching. Consider this, when he started coaching back in 1977, I had not even hit double digits in age. That first stint was a six-year run at what was then Salem Junior High School before he headed to Liberty High School. He coached one year with Jim Clevenger on a team that made it to the Class AAA state tournament with names like Robbie Linville, Julius Lockett and others.

 

It should be noted he coached me as our junior varsity coach in that 1983-84 season. In the interest of full disclosure, he didn’t actually coach me a whole lot in action settings as I spent more time sitting than actually playing.

 

I digress.

 

Despite the long run of coaching, he did have a two-year hiatus where he left public school coaching and worked for CONSOL Energy. While doing that, he actually coached on the AUU circuit before leaving CONSOL Energy because his heart remained as a teacher and a coach.

 

Other than the COVID year, the year at Salem International and the two years working at CONSOL, Hutson has always been on a high school bench.

 

After leaving CONSOL, Hutson assisted for two years with the Lincoln boys’ program under Mark DeFazio and then coached the Cougar girls. When DeFazio stepped down, he coached both the boys’ and girls’ programs back when girls played basketball in the fall.

 

When the switch came, Hutson opted to say with the Lincoln boys. He was there until 1999 when he came to Bridgeport and became part of one very unique championship experience. Hutson was an assistant – and a very hands-on assistant – with Gene Randolph for nine years. During that time, he helped lead the Tribe to a Class AA state title in 2001.

 

After the title, Hutson didn’t leave BHS even though the winds of change did start blowing again. And for the second time, he found himself coaching girls’ basketball, this time at Robert C. Byrd starting in 2008-9 before coming to Bridgeport to coach the girls at the beginning of the 2015-16 season.  Hutson helped lead the Eagles to their first-ever state tournament appearance and he was a regular in Charleston with the Indians, including a trip there in his final year with BHS, which was followed by his Salem stint and his last run with Liberty.

 

Losing seasons have been almost non-existent in the near five decades of coaching. On top of that, he has hundreds of wins to his credit. What he has not had is an open time to do things around Christmas, Thanksgiving and even New Year’s Day.

 

“My wife pointed out that I’ve messed up holidays for 46 years. You always have practice, games, tournaments, and trips, which I’ve always enjoyed,” said Hutson. “I’ll look forward to my new free time, but I’m going to miss the kids and the camaraderie with other coaches because it truly is a fraternity. I’ll miss that, and a whole lot more.”

 

If he misses it too much, and decides to come back yet again, you will read about it here. After all, former players always keep in touch with their former coaches.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo, by Ben Queen Photography, shows Dennis Hutson coming out to coach during his last stint as the BHS girls coach, while he's shown, front row and first on the left, in his first year coaching high school while serving as the junior varsity coach at Liberty High School in 1983-84. In the third photo, Hutson is shown with Cody Gilmore when the two were on the bench at Salem International Universiyt. Botttom photo shows Hutson, standing far left, with the state championship team at BHS as an assistant to the late Gene Randolph. Cover photo is also by Ben Queen Photography.