Screven County Athletic Hall of Famer Jesse Watkins has been named the General Manager and Head Coach of the Evansville (Ind.) Swish of the upstart MidWest Basketball League (www.mwbasketballleague.com).
Watkins says, “The business owner was pondering about bringing a team here and he looked at the facility where I was employed. He talked to me about the possibility of coaching and decided to run with the idea and made me general manager and head coach due to my background with college coaching experience.”
A 2006 inductee into the Screven County Athletic Hall of Fame, Watkins is a 1990 SCHS graduate and was a member of the 1988-89 region championship basketball Gamecocks. He played two years at Brunswick Junior College before finishing his collegiate career at Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) University.
Watkins has coached in various capacities at Lincoln Memorial, Wabash Valley Junior College and the University of Southern Indiana. His teams have competed for national championships at both the NJCAA Division I level and the NCAA Division II level.  Currently, Watkins is the head of player development at the Evansville Basketball Academy.
“I always wanted to be a head coach someday, but at this level is a very unique thing to do,” Watkins said. “Dealing with older, more experienced players is a joy. This is a high level and player management will be the key to becoming successful in this business.”
According to its Web site “…the MWBL feel[s] that there are enough markets available in the Midwest that would be able to support a professional basketball team, using the business model that we have developed. We are attempting to field 6-10 teams in the Midwest to play in the inaugural season. Having all of the teams within a close proximity …”      
So far there are five teams in addition to the Watkins coaches Swish, Centralia (Ill.) Pride, Cincinnati Century, Chicago Stars, Akron (Ohio) Rise and a second team in the Chicago area.
“I am truly happy to be part of what could be a very good situation here in Evansville,” Watkins said. “With the support of the community, I believe we can have a special thing in this community, considering that we are not competing with other big events like high school.”
Watkins also wished to relay a message to current students at SCHS.
“As a former player and graduate of Screven County High School, I am proud of the accomplishments at the high school … My basketball coach at SCHS, Harold Lee Scott, told me ‘things can happen if you just believe in your dreams and put them down on paper and stay within yourself,’” Watkins said.
Continuing with his message, “You must pursue all of your dreams, but getting a good education will always be the start of a bright future.”