CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – West Creek boys basketball’s Kamarie Coffey will be headed to Columbia State Community College in the fall after signing to continue his athletic and academic career.
“The whole coaching staff kept in touch with me and stayed in constant communication from the very beginning,” Coffey said. “Basically, it just felt like home and it’s also easier on my family and friends to be able to come down and watch me play. I want to pick up right where they left off and help make history there.”
Coffey helped lead the Coyotes to the District 10-AAA quarterfinals this past season and was selected to the All-District team after averaging 18 points per game on the year.
Columbia State men’s basketball coach Winston Neal offered high praise for one of his latest signees.
“I am absolutely thrilled,” Neal said. “Kamarie is a tremendous young man. He’s just a great human being and that’s what we want at our college. We pride ourselves on recruiting good kids and good people. He comes from a great family, he’s been raised the right way and been coached the right way. We’re excited to have a high character kid like him in our program first and foremost.
“From a basketball side of things, I think his best basketball is still ahead of him. He’s long, athletic and a big guard. The more reps he gets, I really do think he has the chance to play Division I basketball one day. That’s why we wanted him. We’re looking for young men that we can help develop and move on to the Division I level and he fits the mold top to bottom.”
According to Coffee, it was the conversations aside from the game of basketball between Neal and himself that made his decision an easy one.
“Him and I really don’t talk about basketball that much,” Coffey said. “That’s another reason that made me sign. Coach Neal took the time to talk to me on a personal level and not just about basketball. It showed that they really care about me as a person.”
As he gears up to play at the next level, Coffey has been working on getting stronger in order to take his game on the court to the next level.
“Right now I’m just working on getting my weight up,” Coffey said. “I’m lifting weights, doing pushups, running and eating a lot more.”
Neal has attempted to pull recruits before from the city of Clarksville during his Charger tenure, understanding the high caliber of athletes the area has to offer.
“Technically speaking Kamarie is the first,” Neal said. “We’ve tried to recruit a bunch of kids from Clarksville, but we have not gotten anybody from there until this point. That is an area that is extraordinarily talented and a place where we want to try and get more young men to come to Columbia State because we are relatively close. I think it can happen, it just has to start by signing a good class from there and I think we have one.”
Coffey believes Clarksville is a breeding ground for talent from a basketball standpoint and that players from the area are often overlooked when it comes to the discussion of best basketball cities in the state of Tennessee.
“Me personally, I feel like we’re underrated,” Coffey said. “We really don’t get the exposure I think that we should. There’s a lot of talent that has came out of here.”
The Chargers captured the TCCAA/Region VII championship March 3 and punched their ticket to the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament as a result, but were unable to continue their season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Columbia State wrapped up its 2019-20 campaign with a 23-10 overall record.
Since taking over the Charger head coaching job in 2015, Neal has perennially won 20 games per season. Neal attributed his level of success on the court to those that surround him throughout the program.
“I have to credit my assistant coaches and staff for helping things roll along,” Neal said. “We have a great situation at Columbia State. We have great support from the president to the vice president to the athletic director who all support us 100 percent. We’ve recruited really good players who are really good kids. When you focus on developing players and helping them be the best they can be, the wins take care of themselves. We’ve won our conference championship this year and that’s a big deal. That puts us in the Top 25 in the country and that’s where we want to be every year.”
Coffey is excited to have a familiar face joining him in the fall after Northeast boys basketball’s Ty Jackson also recently committed to Columbia State.
“Ty and I have been playing against each other since our freshman year,” Coffey said. “The thing I admire about Ty as a player is his quickness, the way he scores and how he plays the point guard position. We’ve also been very complementary of each other’s game over the years. Him committing was just icing on the cake for me.”
