Ricky Hood, brother of NBA player Rodney Hood, named boys hoops coach at Greenville Tech

Ever since Ricky Hood was a kid, the game of basketball has been a major part of his life.

It's what led him to playing high school ball, then to a playing career at Chattanooga in college. He played there from 2002-2007, and met his wife Nicole Hood there, who is known by some in the area as a former girls basketball coach at Mauldin and is now the head coach at Greenville Tech Charter. 

His younger brother, Rodney Hood, who is currently a member of the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA, played at Duke and Mississippi State. Ricky served as Rodney's manager for a time when he was entering the NBA Draft and then played with the Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Ricky's life has constantly been connected to basketball. Now he will get to further that.

Ricky Hood has been hired as the new boys basketball coach at Greenville Tech Charter, GTC athletic director Ben Shiley told The Greenville News last week.

"I look everything as a challenge," Ricky Hood said. "I'm excited for the opportunity for me and my wife to be sharing a court ... for her embracing that school and then me seeing that, I wanted to be a part of that."

Hood, originally from Mississippi, has coached with the Mississippi Express Basketball Organization (MEBO) on the Nike EYBL AAU circuit. But the position he is taking at Greenville Tech is his first high school varsity head coaching job, he said. 

"The coaching thing comes naturally," Hood said. "Coaching is teaching in my mind ... so its a perfect kind of situation."

He continued: "Me and my wife, we have a like mind about how to build a program. 

"Actually teaching it and grabbing the attention of young women and men and getting them to understand what competition is really like... it's bigger, much bigger than just putting a ball in the hoop. That was special for us to be able to spread that message."

Greenville Tech will compete in Region 1-AA starting next academic year alongside Blacksburg, Chesnee, Greer Middle College, Landrum, and Liberty.

The past two seasons the Warriors have gone 2-25 under head coach R.J. Beach, who told The News last week he would be retiring from the position. Beach had coached boys basketball at Christ Church for 19 years and saw immense success during that time.

Hood said that he was a defensive minded player in college, so his teams will embody that.

"I was a glue guy in college," Hood said, "very defensive minded. One of my quotes was offense puts fans in the stands but defense wins championships – so we are going to build a wall defensively, we're going to box out and rebound.

"That's who I am. Defensive-minded, tough, hard-nosed and I exert maximum effort."

Hood, who has worked in the area for years since graduating from Chattanooga, said he's happy to be back in the area and hopes to build the basketball program up.

Greenville Tech was led by currently J.L. Mann coach Clay Breazeale for 18 seasons prior to Beach being hired in 2020.

Joe Dandron covers high school athletics for The Greenville News. Have a question, story idea or story tip involving prep sports in the Upstate? Email him at jdandron@greenvillenews.com or reach out via phone at 864-415-6213.