The Long County Blue Tide boys basketball program has arguably been the most successful team in Ludowici over the last decade. Since Reggie Wilkes took over the program in 2017-18, the team has won over 100 games, two region titles, made the playoffs every year, and advanced to two Elite Eight appearances, both games coming down to the final buzzer.

Wilkes took a new job as assistant principal at Long County High School and continued to focus on his duties as athletic director. He, thus, handed over the reins of the basketball program to Blue Tide alumnus Ricky Rivera.

Rivera returned home to Ludowici last year and spent a season as an assistant football and basketball coach. He summed up his opportunity to lead the basketball team eloquently: “It’s a dream come true.”

“I’ve always wanted to come back home, I knew I was going to come back home, I just didn’t know when,” Rivera said. “God kind of brought me home a little earlier than I thought, but, you know, The Long County Blue Tide boys basketball program has arguably been the most successful team in Ludowici over the last decade. Since Reggie Wilkes took over the program in 2017-18, the team has won over 100 games, two region titles, made the playoffs every year, and advanced to two Elite Eight appearances, both games coming down to the final buzzer.

Wilkes took a new job as assistant principal at Long County High School and continued to focus on his duties as athletic director. He, thus, handed over the reins of the basketball program to Blue Tide alumnus Ricky Rivera.

Rivera returned home to Ludowici last year and spent a season as an assistant football and basketball coach. He summed up his opportunity to lead the basketball team eloquently: “It’s a dream come true.”

“I’ve always wanted to come back home, I knew I was going to come back home, I just didn’t know when,” Rivera said. “God kind of brought me home a little earlier than I thought, but, you knowcoach…It was rough mentally because I really didn’t know what to expect and didn’t really get to prepare myself and I ended up taking one on the chin that year.”

In Rivera’s first two seasons with Mitchell County, the Eagles won a total of 19 games and missed the state playoffs. In his third season, they won 19 games and played for a region championship.

“I made a deal to myself that that would never happen again,” Rivera said of his struggles in his first two seasons. “I just wanted to instill the same kind of mentality in the kids there that basketball wasn’t going as well as it should have been. We all got on the same page.”

It is certainly a change from Mitchell County to Long County as Rivera knows he has the support from the community and administration and even some of his athletes who likely watched him play for the Blue Tide when he was in high school.

“It gives me a little edge where I am just coming back home blank,” he said. “Now everybody kind of wants to hear from me and wants to be around me and the kids want to play for me, so it kind of helps.”

Historically, boys basketball has been one of the better sports programs at Long County, even dating back to Rivera’s playing days. Under former head coach Deshon Brock, the team won well over 100 games, several region championships and made several playoff appearances.

Rivera knows he has a lot to live up to with both coaches having success and he will take a little both of what he learned under Brock as a player and under Wilkes as an assistant coach to make his team successful.

“As far as continuing (the legacy), we’ve kind of built that mindset that ‘it’s in it.’ It’s in our community, it’s in our kids to understand ‘hey basketball does things XYZ,’” Rivera said. “We’re real traditional and I think as a new coach here I kind of want to bring my style of how we played when I was here or even when I coached at Mitchell.”

Rivera also said that he learned a lot under Wilkes last season as an assistant and that will likely reflect in his coaching style and the kids’ playing style., “We will probably play a little more fast paced and press like I did when I played, but being under Coach Wilkes last year taught me that we can also play the slow man game and play the half court game as well, which I think will help,” Rivera said. “Being an assistant coach, last year here and the year before with the girls team at Pelham, allowed me to sit back and not worry so much and get to learn why the head coaches were doing certain stuff.”

Region 3-AAA is arguably one of the toughest boys basketball regions in the state, regardless of classification. Johnson was the AAA state runner-up last year, Liberty County returns its entire starting lineup and most of its bench while the other schools in Savannah are always loaded with talent.

Rivera knows it’s going to be a tough go in his first season, but believes that the team can get back to the state playoffs, something they haven’t missed since the 2016-17 season.

“This is an extremely tough region to play in,” Rivera said. “But what I think people don’t understand is that when your region is that tough, it kind of helps you. As the season goes by, as you get into the playoffs, our region holds a different standard. It’s one of those things where it’s gotta be in you, not on you type of mentalities. You kind of have to be a dog to play in this region or you’ll get ran out of the gym.”

Overall, Rivera believes that his team is talented enough to make a run.

“I want to say that with the talent that we have and God blessed us with a few transfers from out of state, it’s kind of molded us to be a lot better than what we originally expected, even though we were still going to be pretty good,” Rivera said. “The guys have put in the work. I see them get better every day. They’re becoming closer and closer, whether it’s new guys or old guys. Young guys are being molded by these older guys. One difference this season is that we have some guys that are willing to lead by example and not be ashamed to be the bad guy, so it’s not just me.”

The Blue Tide open the regular season at home against Tattnall County on Tuesday, November 19.