Tim Foster wasn’t concerned about his return to The Corral.
Instead, Northside’s first-year boys’ basketball coach was focused more on his team’s emotions following their 86-54 loss at Southwest on Tuesday night.
“I’ll be honest, being back there, when the game starts and you get to playing, you don’t think about where you are at,” Foster said. “You think about our guys and how frustrated they feel.”
The game marked the return to Southwest for Foster, a graduate of the school who later served as coach and principal for several years before he retired at the end of the 2022 school year. It was also a homecoming for his assistant coach, Eric Kliewer, who also retired in 2022 after serving as a longtime coach and athletic director for the Stallions.
“Southwest is my alma-mater, and it will always be special to me,” Foster said. “I have a lot of friends here, good people, who I love to death, and it was different because I don’t usually sit on that side.”
And while Foster will always have a strong bond with the Southwest community, he is now a Northside Monarch looking to rebuild the school’s basketball program.
“Coach Kendrick Pollock (Northside AD) has really built a culture of family here and I look forward to continuing to work with him,” Foster said. “We will grow and get better. Northside will improve and finish strong.”
It has been a challenging start to the season as the Monarchs (0-5) have faced five teams who are 19-2 combined – North Brunswick, White Oak, Laney, Swansboro and Southwest. Northside hosts North Brunswick on Wednesday, hosts Fairmont (4-1) on Friday and tips off Big Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference play Tuesday at South Central (1-0).
“We have to keep them motivated,” Foster said. “The guys have to understand that we have had a tough nonconference schedule and that the next couple of ball games won’t get any easier. So, the effort has to be there, and we know they will continue to work hard.”
The ability to play hard is the Monarchs’ foundation. Even in losses that got away from Northside, the players have continued to give solid effort, Foster said.
“They didn’t quit on us. I like the fact that they play hard,” Foster said. “A loss like this is frustrating for them, but they didn’t quit. We have something to build on. We will continue to play hard so our execution can get a little better.”
Northside has been led by junior Xavier Ritter, seniors Talan Evans and Chris Mayhew and sophomores Deon Whitner and Noah McKay, among others.
“These kids want to do well,” Foster said. “They play hard.”