As a high school basketball player, 1,000 career points is an impressive accomplishment. The Portal Panthers have already had one player crack 1,000 career points this year and will more than likely have three teammates accomplish that feat by next season. Their head coach Jeff Brannen surpassed a monumental milestone this weekend as well, as he collected his 500th career win as the Panthers knocked off Bryan County.
“That was one of my goals when I got into coaching was to reach 500 wins,” said Brannen. “I’ve had a lot of people congratulate me and that has been nice, but I couldn’t have gotten to this point without good administrators and teachers, and of course we’ve been blessed to have some pretty good players come through here as well.”
In addition to his player and administrators Brannen also thanked his former high school coach the late Lee Hill for inspiring him and helping him to decide to get into coaching.
“Coach Hill got to 500 wins a lot quicker than I did,” Brannen was quick to point out. “Coach Hill mentored me as a coach and taught me the ups and downs. He taught me about being competitive as a player and never give up, and that carried into my coaching as well.”
Brannen also attributes his success to staying in the same place as long as he has. Brannen began his head coaching career at Portal in 1991 and says it’s been great to be at the same place.
“A lot of coaches may have looked elsewhere after experiences some bumpy seasons,” said Brannen. “My ties to this community are just too strong. My dad played here and then at Georgia Southern and I have a great respect for the people of Portal. The community has been great to me and always treated me like one of their own.”
As much as he has enjoyed being at a school the size of Portal, Brannen admits there can be drawbacks as well.
“Being at a small school you will have times when your talent pool is a lot less than it would be at a big school,” said Brannen. “You have to find unique ways to be successful and it can be a grind. The good thing is Portal has been known as a basketball school as far back as when my dad played, and eve when I was playing at Statesboro. The community always supports us and they come out to cheer us on.”
The Portal faculty and staff are also proud of what Brannen has been able to accomplish and feel lucky to have him at the school this long.
"Coach Brannen has been solid over the years as a teacher, coach, and mentor for the Portal community," said Portal athletics director Justin Chester. "There have been some years especially early on when the talent wasn't great, but coach Brannen persevered. He stayed the course and kept building the program. I would say the 1997 team was the turnaround group. That group won the subregion and got the excitement back from previous decades about Portal basketball. The program has been strong over the years since then. I’m so proud Coach got 500 and I truly believe that this team has the chance to go from good to great and hopefully make it to Macon in March."
Brannen also received accolades from another iconic local coach.
"This is unheard of in this day and time for anyone to do at one school, particularly a small school like Portal," former Southeast Bulloch coach John Page said. "Most coaches tend to have a good run of success then later go on to greener pastures. I commend Jeff for remaining at Portal throughout the good years and bad years. I also commend the Portal community for trusting in him and his care for the kids, school and community. Jeff with be the first to tell you this would not be possible with his dedicated coaching staff and support of parents and the school administration. Jeff's teams have always been prepared when you played them. I am very proud of him and his accomplishments."
The Panthers have advanced to a couple Final-4 appearances under Brannen. This year’s squad is currently ranked No. 3 in the state and Brannen feels they have the potential to go all the way to the state championship which is another of his career goals.
“We definitely have a special team,” said Brannen. The core players know what it takes to make a run in the state tournament. Right now, we have played a difficult schedule and have beaten some pretty good teams. I hope we can continue to progress and I would love to see this group make some history at the end of the season.”
Portal is off until Dec. 30 when they will travel to Statesboro High for a 7:00 tipoff. Coach Brannen will be recognized for his 500th win on January 13 at halftime of the girl's game as Portal hosts Montgomery County.
