Sports Coaches come aboard
Rob Sabau to head boys basketball St. Benedict Athletic Director Caleb Marcum recently announced that Rob Sabau has accepted the position as Head Coach of the SBA Men’s Basketball Team. Sabau also joins the teaching staff in the Social Studies Department at the school. Marcum said, “Coach Sabau comes to SBA with many successful years of experience in both the college and high school setting. We are extremely excited about having him join our staff. His philosophy of hard work and integrity fits with our program and we know the young men under his tutelage will benefit from his expertise.”
Veteran Coach John Cooley accepts football position at St. Benedict
Since 2009, Coach Sabau has been coaching at Millington Central High School. In his first year at Millington he led the Freshman Boys team to their first ever Shelby County Tournament Title. For the last six years he has been the Varsity Head Coach. In his first two seasons as head coach his teams doubled the wintotal from the previous year. In the last three years Millington has graduated 19 players from the program. All 19 have gone on to college with seven playing college basketball. Prior to teaching at Millington Central, Sabau spent two years as an administrator and Head Boys Basketball Coach at Lausanne Collegiate School. During his second season at Lausanne his team posted a 22-8 record and advanced to the semi-finals of the TSSAA Division II State Tournament. Three Lausanne players went on to play Division I college basketball. Coach Sabau also spent five years (2003-07) as an assistant basketball coach at Rhodes College. He played collegiately at Millsaps College.
Following the announcement of Coach Sabau as Men’s Basketball Coach, the Eagles were pleased to announce that veteran Coach John Cooley accepted the position as Head Coach of the SBA Football Team. Cooley also joins the teaching staff in the Social Studies and Physical Education Departments at the school. AD Caleb Marcum said, “We’re excited about having Coach Cooley come aboard. He knows the game thoroughly as proven by his success over the years. But, more importantly, he knows how to develop boys into productive young men and citizens. Coach also has great leadership skills with experience in multiple sports.” Since 2015, Coach Cooley has worked in the Marion, AR School District. He has also worked in the DeSoto County System and the Memphis City School System. Coach Cooley has an overall coaching record of 221-125-1. During his tenure at Memphis Ridgeway High School (1981-2007), he won six district/ region championships, advancing to the State Play-offs 18 out of 22 years there. His team won the State Championship in 2002 and he was named Coach of the Year in 2002 and Region Coach of the Year nine times. He received the prestigious Rex Award from the Memphis Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame and was Head Coach for the Liberty Bowl High School All-Star Game in 2006. Coach Cooley played collegiately at Harding University, where he was a three-year letterman. SBA principal Sondra Morris said, “Adding Coach Cooley to our athletic staff gives us solid footing as we continue to build our football program. He brings experience, success and energy to the program and our school. He is a dedicated student-focused coach and educator with over 30 years of proven experience in developing young athletes.”
SBA principal Sondra Morris said, “Coach Sabau’s combination of experience as a coach and an educator on both the high school and collegiate level are impressive. He has experienced success at all levels and educational settings. We are grateful to have him join our staff, both as a coach and teacher.”
Coach Cooley met with the SBA football team and coaching staff the first week of May, started spring practice and summer workouts.
Coach Sabau met with the SBA team in April and started spring workouts.
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