Apprentice School Director of Athletics Michael W. Allen is pleased to announce the re-hiring of Evan Kee as the school’s Head Men’s Basketball Coach. Coach Kee will continue his duties as Associate Athletic Director of Finance and Facilities, while also making a return to the sideline for the 2021-2022 season.
Michael W. Allen, Director of Athletics states, “I want to first and foremost thank Coach Sparks for his commitment in leading our Men’s Basketball program over the past two years. I know his decision to step aside for personal reasons was a difficult one to ultimately come to but we respect his wishes and support him during this transition process.”
Allen continued, “With that said, it was a no-brainer to extend the offer once again to Evan. He has settled in to his administrative role over the past year and a half, while remaining a valuable asset to our basketball programs during that time. By sliding him back into the head coaching role, it keeps continuity in the program and will cause little disruption to our current and incoming players. So I am extremely excited to support him in his passion for coaching basketball and leading our outstanding men’s basketball program moving forward.”
Evan Kee enters his third season with the Builders as Head Men’s Basketball Coach after previously serving as the head coach from 2017-2019. Kee has also worked as the Associate Athletic Director at The Apprentice School since August of 2019. In Coach Kee’s previous two seasons as head coach, he helped rejuvenate the program and increased win totals each season. The foundation established during his tenure, helped lead the Builders to become 2019-2020 EMAC Champions and an appearance in the USCAA National Tournament after a three-year absence. Prior to becoming the head coach in August of 2017, Kee had previous stops as an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Keuka College, Elmira College, Marymount University and Christopher Newport University.
Coach Kee takes over for Tim Sparks who was an assistant for Kee for two seasons and served as Head Coach during the 2019-2020 campaign and led the program through the COVID-19 2020-2021 season. Sparks, who compiled a 15-13 overall record, program-first EMAC Tournament Championship and USCAA National Tournament appearance had this to say, “I’m very grateful for the opportunity of a lifetime to be the Head Men’s Basketball Coach here at The Apprentice School but I have decided to step down for personal reasons. I will forever be grateful for every player that I coached and recruited here. Great memories for a lifetime. Thank you Dr. McCane, Michael W. Allen and Coach Kee for hiring me and entrusting me with the program. Special thank you to every assistant coach that I ever worked with! It was always about US and not ME. I am hoping to stay on board in the program in some capacity… I wish our guys the absolute best this upcoming season!”
Evan Kee who has assumed the head coaching duties this week had this to say, “I would like to first thank Michael W. Allen for hiring me for now the third time for a position in this department! Coach Sparks and I have worked hard to build something special since we both got here in August 2017 and it’s an absolute blessing to be given the opportunity to coach these outstanding student-athletes we have in our program. We thank Coach Sparks for his four years of service to The Apprentice School. We will continue working hard to WIN EACH DAY and be the best version of ourselves, while positively representing our families, our school and Newport News Shipbuilding.”
https://www.gobuilders.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/releases/20210414l9wjb7
