By Graham Sweeney
Recently hired Collierville High School head basketball coach Cedric Henderson announced that he was resigning from the position around four months after taking the job.
The resignation came after an internal investigation was launched.
Former Memphis Tiger Shawn Taggart has been named the interim coach.
A former University of Memphis basketball standout and professional player, Henderson was named the interim head coach of the Collierville High School boys basketball team last October.
The district released the following statement:
“Administrators and School Board members were alerted to certain actions of Collierville High School boys’ basketball coach Cedric Henderson that represented potential violations of that code. After an internal investigation and conversations with both school and district officials, Mr. Henderson elected to submit his resignation to Collierville Schools.
Collierville Schools, as a general practice, does not comment publicly on employment decisions. At this time, however, pursuant to the Tennessee Public Records Act (TCA 10-7-503), various media outlets have submitted official requests for certain documents related to this incident. The district intends to comply fully with these requests but will have no additional comments, as we consider the matter to be closed.”
Henderson, 46, was a small forward for the Memphis Tigers in the mid-90s before being selected by the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the 1997 draft. He was also a standout player for East High School in Memphis.
He played four seasons for the Cavaliers before being traded to the Golden State Warriors. He later played for the Milwaukee Bucks before joining the NBDL overseas.
After retiring, Henderson became the assistant
coach and head coach of the men’s basketball team at Southwest Tennessee Community College for the 2012-13 and 2018-19 seasons, respectively.
He then became the assistant coach of the men’s basketball team at Christian Brothers University.
He also coached high school teams in Memphis.
In 2012-13, he was the head coach at Wooddale High School and in 2017-18 he coached at Trezevant High School, where the team had a 2-20 record.
Collierville Schools Athletic Director Jeff Curtis noted last fall, “We feel we have found someone that could prove to be a tremendous leader in our community, a wonderful communicator and a developer of talent. With Cedric’s Hall of Fame success at The University of Memphis and NBA experience, we are confident he will do special things at Collierville High School.”
The Dragons won their first game in the state tournament last season. It was the first time Collierville had been to the tournament in nearly 50 years.
They were ranked No. 22 in the state with a record of 22-12 on the season before losing 55-48 to Cane Ridge of Nashville.
