From 9-21 to district champions. How former Coast power is rebuilding basketball legacy
A once-proud program was dead in the water this time a year ago.
The Gulfport Admirals won just nine games in their lone season under the guidance of Steve Hesser. It was the worst year the storied program had endured in nearly a century.
“It was kind of a bad vibe, everybody was down,” junior combo guard Morris Robertson told the Sun Herald. “We were losing consistently, like back-to-back. Before coach (Brian) Butler came here, the vibe was bad.”
Butler’s hiring was antithetical to the school’s recent surge of high-profile coaching additions. He was a 3A coach at Columbia coming off a region championship and was being tasked with rebuilding a program that was a state champion at the highest classification exactly one decade prior.
A year later and Butler’s Admirals are 28-2, Region 4-7A champion and their only losses are to top-five ranked Pascagoula and Starkville.
The turnaround started with a simple change in attitude.
“We made everything about winning,” Butler said. “We decided to remove ourselves from all the other stuff and all the individual-seeking accolades and just made everything about winning.”
One of Butler’s first moves was implementing a boot camp where players had to earn everything, including their uniforms. The players wore plain white T-shirts and black shorts, with motivational messages written on the shirts to remind them of their goals.
“We talked about earning absolutely everything,” Butler said. “A lot of things are obviously given to the players who first join teams, like jerseys and lockers, but we wanted them to earn it.”
The boot camp was grueling, but it paid off. Robertson, one of the team’s leaders, said the experience brought the team closer together.
“It was hard at first, but as we went, it got more fun,” Robertson said. “It made us become stronger mentally and physically.”
Talented roster
Robertson is the Admirals’ own Jekyll and Hyde. Quiet off the court, Robertson’s energy and intensity on the court has made him the spark plug behind the machine that began the year with a 16-game win streak.
“Between the lines, I’m ready to dominate, ready to win,” Robertson said. “Our goal is to become champions, so you’ve got to have that fire. That dog in you.”
Robertson is leading the team with 12.6 points per game and has a nose for the basketball, averaging 6.7 rebounds and 2 steals each game.
The region MVP has been flanked by a deep roster that uses a “one more” passing philosophy to get everyone involved. In the district championship win over Biloxi, five different players reached double figures in points and the highest scorer had just 13.
That leading scorer was freshman big Travor Frost, who has quickly made a name for himself with his intelligence and work ethic. Butler praised Frost’s ability to adapt and his dedication to improving every day.
“He’s intelligent, and a lot of people don’t realize that when they’re watching him,” Butler said. “He studies his craft, he understands what his job is. He’s dedicated to his job, and his teammates really push him because he is special.”
Frost is scoring 10.6 points a game with 6.5 rebounds and was named the region’s defensive MVP.
Restoring tradition
The Admirals’ turnaround was immediate. It was during the early-season winning streak that the team realized it had the potential to be something special.
“When we hit a 10-game win streak, we were like, ‘Oh, we’re actually good,’” Robertson said. “We’re steadily building up our program back to how it was.”
Butler’s emphasis on teamwork and a family atmosphere in the locker room has been a critical component to the team’s success. He implemented a set of rules called the “G-Code,” which outlines the standards the team lives by, emphasizing the importance of unity and hard work.
“We talk about it all the time: ‘Nobody cares, work harder,’” Butler said. “Nobody cares if you’re having a bad day, nobody cares if you’re struggling this season. All you have to do is work harder.”
That mentality serves as the foundation for what Butler and his Admirals hope to accomplish in year one of this new era.
“We want to carry on the tradition,” Butler said. “We want to bring that back. Gulfport has been dominant in basketball for over 90 years, and we want to bring it back to where we’re dominant, where people enjoy watching Gulfport play.”
“The program started going down a little bit,” Robertson said. “We want to build it back to what it used to be.”
Gulfport enters the 7A bracket this week as a top seed. The Admirals host Meridian in the first round on Saturday at 7 p.m. in search of their first playoff win since 2022.
