Nansemond River announced its new Head Girls Basketball Coach on July 5th and it's Class of 1997 alum Leroy Skinner.
Skinner is well-connected to the city of Suffolk, where he has coached in an assistant role at three different schools following a decorated playing career.
A four-year letterman at Nansemond River, Skinner was a member of the 1994-95 Warriors team that won the VHSL Group AA State Championship. He would then go on to play at Mount Aloysius, an NAIA school in Pennsylvania. There he amassed 100 steals as a freshman point guard and set a school record for most assists.
Ironically enough, Skinner was recruited at Mount Aloysius by Ed Young, who later became the program's Head Coach and has been the Head Boys Basketball Coach at Nansemond River since 2004-05.
When his playing days wrapped up, Skinner was a varsity boys assistant at Nansemond River, including for several seasons with Young. He also was an assistant coach at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and King's Fork, where he served as Head J.V. Boys Coach from 2010-14. Skinner coached in college, including as an assistant with The Apprentice School's women's basketball program.
At Nansemond River, Skinner replaces R. Calvin Mason, who compiled a record of 198-103 in 15 years at the helm. Mason didn't get a chance to coach the Nansemond River girls this past season due to Suffolk Public Schools opting out of the VHSL's 2020-21 winter sports because of concerns stemming from COVID-19. Nor did he really get to go out on the terms he would've liked.
“When I said I wasn’t going to coach anymore, it wasn’t a decision that I wanted to make. My plan was to coach again this year. But I felt like they wanted to go in a different direction and I didn’t have a lot of choice in it,” Mason told VirginiaPreps.com.
“When I stepped away, I wanted to make sure I stepped away with the program in pretty good shape. We haven’t been very successful the last couple years. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to play this past calendar year. We've just been a very young group, basically playing ninth and ten graders, that I felt like was growing with the chance I thought to get better this year."
While he's not entirely closing the book on coaching again, Mason has spent 43 years in the profession. Some of the highlights include being on the late great Spencer Mayfield's coaching staff for three State Championship winning seasons for boys basketball; John F. Kennedy in 1983 as well as Nansemond River's title squads of 1992 and 1995.
Mason called the two years he spent with Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame Coach James Sweat with the Norfolk State women's basketball program, "a great experience," plus gained knowledge from his time under Sandra McCray with the Nansemond River varsity girls, coaching junior varsity boys basketball at Nansemond River for seven years, and a year as a varsity assistant to Mike Donovan with the Western Branch boys.
Nansemond River's girls will be part of a new nine-team Region 5B field vying for a spot in the postseason when the 2021-22 campaign gets underway. Their Southeastern District opener is set for Friday, December 3rd at rival King's Fork.
