Just after winning the Region 6, 2A District Championship on February 17 in Puckett, Coach Rodrick Taylor was named District Coach of the Year for the second time, while his son, Dyllan, was named District Player of the Year for the third time. Now, the Pelahatchie Chiefs are headed to the Championship playoffs at the Coliseum again.
Taylor has always loved basketball. His parents, John Wesley and Willie Jean, both played in high school, as did his brother John, who is in Jackson State University’s Basketball Hall of Fame. John’s daughter, Myah, was Gatorade’s Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016, and has been recruited to play at Mississippi State.
One sister, Angela Reynolds, was the Northwest Rankin girls basketball coach, and is now the ninth grade principal. She both played and coached championship teams. Taylor’s little sister, Cassie McCawley, liked basketball, but focused on academics, and graduated her junior year. She is currently a teacher at Rouse Elementary in Brandon.
Taylor, 42, was named head basketball coach at Pelahatchie High School (PHS) in 2014. Prior to that, he was assistant coach at his alma mater, Pearl High School, for three years, and at Hartfield Academy in Flowood for two years. He played at Pearl High and at Jackson State earning SWAC Defensive Player of the Year and first team all SWAG in 1996. He was also fifth in the nation in steals as a senior in 1996.
Currently, Taylor coaches two of his five sons at Pelahatchie. Dyllan, 17, is a senior wearing number two, and Nev’on, 13, is a seventh grader wearing number one. His five-year-old son, Destin, also attends pre-K at Pelahatchie. His oldest, Roderick, Jr., 21, has a basketball scholarship to William Carey University in Hattiesburg. His youngest is one, and is only dreaming about basketball.
“The boys came to us wanting to go to Pelahatchie,” said Naomi Taylor, their greatest fan. “Often, I have to act as referee, but, they are really enjoying their time with their dad.”
Taylor said that at first it took adjustment being coach to his son, “but then the other players saw that I treat them like I do Dyllan, like family. The team has bonded and chose to put the word ‘Brothers’ on the back of their shooting tops because they feel more like brothers than teammates.”
The run to the championship will take place the first of March, and, hopefully, the Chiefs will turn the District Championship into a state championship under their Taylor-made ticket.