For Jason Davis, it’s not been about being a head boys basketball coach. It’s been about being Fluvanna County’s head boys basketball coach. It’s not been about any job, it’s been about this job.
“To me it’s important that people realize that I’ve waited for this opportunity,” Davis said Tuesday when he was announced as the Flucos’ new head boys basketball coach..” Not just to be a boys basketball coach but to be the Flucos’ boys basketball coach. I’m humbled by the opportunity.”
Davis is taking over for Munro Rateau, who retired earlier this spring after 37 years at the helm for Fluvanna. For more than a decade, Davis has sat beside Rateau on the Fluvanna bench as his lead assistant, a key factor in playoff runs including the 2012 state final four run.
“I can’t even put into words for what Munro has done for me,” Davis said. “There are lots of things that he does so well and he influences the way I’m going to coach. I’m ready to put that to good use.”
Davis has spent years as a boys assistant for Fluvanna and was also once the head girls basketball coach at Fluvanna between 2001 and 2003 before a one-year stint at Rockbridge as a girls head coach. He’s also been the boys tennis head coach, a football assistant, a boys soccer assistant and a head softball coach, all at Fluvanna. That variety of experience and dedication to the school should serve Davis well in his new role.
“I’ve always tried to learn from every coach I’ve had the opportunity to coach with and against,” Davis said. “I think everything good in coaching has probably been stolen. I’ve been spent years getting ready for this opportunity.”
Davis’ wife Kristen is the head girls soccer coach at Fluvanna, and despite growing up in Grayson County, it’s clear that the Flucos’ new leader has put down roots.
“I think of myself as a Fluco and as I’ve said, my kids are Flucos, we don’t know anything different,” Davis said.
Davis has spent a lot of years, a lot of hours, preparing to move a seat over on the bench. Now he gets his chance.
Sometimes it’s worth the wait for the right opportunity.
