Going Green: Oak Ridge basketball team is a family affair

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Any coach will tell you their assistants and support staff are like a second family during the season.

Oak Ridge boys basketball coach Aaron Green has actual family on his staff, both officially and unofficially, and they’re a big reason for the Wildcats’ sustained success.

Aaron Green’s dad Danny Green has been beside him on his bench as an assistant coach for the last seven years.

”There’s no other place he’d rather be than a gym. A golf course would be a close second,” Aaron Green said of his father.

Aaron Green is in his 13th season with the Wildcats after a head coaching job with Cleveland and some time as a graduate assistant with Tennessee under Bruce Pearl.

“My dad has been a coach ever since I’ve been alive. I played for him at Sweetwater. Won a state championship in 1994 and we were runners-up in ‘93 and ‘95,” Aaron Green said.

While Danny Green had a huge hand in Aaron Green’s coaching philosophy, there are still some disagreements at the dinner table.

“We’ve had some good fights or whatever you want to call it because I’m old school and he’s a Bruce Pearl man and he does a lot of what he did and it’s been effective so far so I can’t argue with him much,” said Danny Green.

Aaron Green has helped guide the Wildcats to six state tournament appearances. His mother Faye Green has been behind the bench keeping stats for each and every game.

“When I was in middle school she was keeping stats for my dad’s team even when I was young. So she’s been keeping stats for probably 40 years. She kept my stats when I was a player and she’s kept stats since I’ve been coaching basketball for more than 20 years,” said Aaron Green.

Think of Miss Faye Green as a consultant in the stands.

“She tells us who’s in foul trouble, if somebody is getting a lot of points on the other team she’ll inform us and we’ll try to make corrections. It’s a team thing,” said Danny Green.

The Green recipe has worked so far this year as Aaron Green has guided his Wildcats to a perfect season.

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