New Gadsden City girls' coach Jay Tinker says he has 'big shoes to fill'
A familiar face now leads Gadsden City High School’s girls’ basketball program.
Longtime Titan assistant Jay Tinker has stepped up to the top job, replacing Jeremy Brooks, who announced last month that he’s leaving the program he founded 17 seasons ago to become girls’ coach at Westbrook Christian School.
Tinker, who was introduced at a media event at the school on May 16, was with Brooks for the last 14 of those seasons, and said he’s “got some big shoes to fill.”
However, his familiarity with the program will be a plus. “We only lost two seniors,” Tinker said, from Gadsden City’s 2022-23 team that finished 18-11 and was the regular-season champion in Class 6A, Area 13.
“I’ve been coaching these girls since they were in the third grade,” he said. “Coach Brooks and I created the feeder program here, so these are girls that have been with us the whole time. It looks promising.”
Still, don’t expect a complete continuation of what the Titans did under Brooks.
“If you get a house that’s been remodeled,” Tinker said, “it doesn’t necessarily mean things were broken. There are just things that you want to change.
“I’m going to put my own twist on it,” he said. “We’re going to do some things different than we did previously, but it will be 'my own.’”
A 1991 graduate of Gadsden High School, Tinker was an assistant boys’ coach at his alma mater for a few seasons before returning to coaching with the Titans. He’s a math teacher at the school.
He said he prefers a fast-paced but still under control offense, and aggressive defense.
“I like in-your-face defense,” Tinker said, “tough as nails, man-to-man, trying to get after you.”
He expects next year’s area race to be competitive. “Oxford has some tough girls, good girls coming back, although they graduated two or three,” he said. “Fort Payne did too, but their best player is coming back. Right now, on paper, it looks like a toss-up.”
Tinker said the Titans will face some new opponents early in the season “who should give us some stiff competition.”
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden City promotes Tinker as girls' basketball coach
