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WESLEY CHAPEL - Brad Jenkins has been waiting for a coaching break. He'll get it with the Wesley Chapel girls basketball team this winter.
Jenkins, 38, who helped Tampa Catholic to a surprising district championship as an assistant last season, was named as the Wildcats' coach Monday, taking over for Mark Kopp, who resigned in May after two seasons.
Jenkins has interviewed for coaching vacancies at Plant City, Durant, Robinson and other Tampa high schools, but had to leave the city limits to find a match.
"I've been trying," Jenkins said. "My perseverance has paid off. I like that this is getting back to a school in a community, and I'm really an old-school guy that way. You talk about Tampa and there's a lot of schools, but when you say Wesley Chapel, it's just the Wildcats."
Jenkins inherits a team that has improved dramatically the past two seasons. Kopp took over a program that went 3-86 in its first three seasons, earned seven wins in his first year, then went 11-11 in 2003-04, earning the program's first playoff berth.
Wesley Chapel returns one of the county's most promising players in freshman phenom Sthefany Thomas.
Principal Andy Frelick said Jenkins stood out to him first as a good social studies teacher. But his references were equally glowing when it came to his basketball experience.
"Everybody we talked to, from principals to other coaches, everyone just raved about him," Frelick said. "He had great references, a great background and we feel like he's an excellent addition to our staff."
Jenkins started coaching basketball with an intramural team in college in Greensboro, N.C., having worked primarily with soccer before that.
He was an assistant coach one season at Tampa Catholic and helped the Crusaders make the playoffs as the fourth seed in their district, upsetting Academy of the Holy Names and St. Petersburg Catholic, then winning in the first round of the playoffs.
Before coming to TC, he was an assistant and junior varsity coach at Leto for two seasons.
Jenkins said that, as a coach, he draws on his playing days, relying on preparation and dedication as the starting blocks for success. He'll meet with Kopp next week to learn more about his players and hopes to attend some open-gym nights at Wesley Chapel to get a better chance to know his team.
"It's going to be a well-prepared team, with a lot of heart and hustle," he said. "We might not always be the best team, but we can be the best-prepared."
High school basketball coaches in Pasco County earned a supplement of $2,669 during the 2003-04 school year.