BY DANIEL SCHMIDT FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA – Sitting in his office, Noah Gardner faced a difficult decision. It was late 2021, and the freshly graduated Auburn alumnus wrestled with the idea of leaving his job as a RadioAlabama play-by-play sports broadcaster to become a coach.
While calling high school sports was exactly what he wanted to do right out of college and among the most enjoyable experiences of his life, Gardner always knew deep down that he wanted to be on the opposite end of the microphone. The opportunity to join the staff at Trinity Christian School proved too good to pass up, and he accepted a position in the spring of 2022.
From the outside looking in, it appears Gardner is solely responsible for Trinity’s basketball renaissance since that fateful moment after his team finished with an 18-6 record this year. And despite falling to Escambia Academy 49-45 in the Alabama Independent School Association boys’ 1A state tournament semifinals, Gardner has transformed the Eagles from a dismissed afterthought into a tough, scrappy unit.
The Eagles’ 27-year-old head coach refuses to accept any credit, and instead attributes the turnaround to 12 other people: his players.
“For me, when I hear the saying, ‘It’s about the Jimmys and Joes, not the X’s and O’s,’ it’s about what those Jimmys and Joes are made up of more than their talent. It’s about their intrinsic qualities. Are they coachable? Do they have a strong work ethic? Do they have a good attitude? Do they have good hearts? Are they willing to play hard?” Gardner said. “This year has been special to coach these guys because they have all those qualities and they care about each other. And so when you go to practice, even when you’re going through adversity, they’re so much fun and they’re easy to coach because they have those qualities.”
Regardless of who receives recognition, the numbers do not lie. According to MaxPreps, Trinity recorded a 23-93 record and didn’t win a playoff game between 2010 and 2022, the year before Gardner took over the program. In the past two seasons, the Eagles have gone 27-16 and made the AISA 1A state tournament semifinals twice.
Simultaneously, Trinity has gone from scoring 43.5 points per game and allowing 58.7 points per game to scoring 46.7 points per game and allowing 38.4 points per game.
The roots of the revival are buried in the spring of 2022 when Gardner — already a member of Trinity Presbyterian Church — started teaching and kickstarted Trinity’s baseball program after becoming the school’s first-ever junior varsity baseball coach. He soon received the opportunity to take over an ailing basketball program.
Despite the team being relatively young and having won only two games the previous season, Gardner saw untapped potential in skilled players needing to be physically, mentally and emotionally developed. Before coaching a game, however, he had to deal with several issues.
At the time, Trinity also still played in the Georgia Association for Private Parochial Schools. While there were some benefits to competing beyond the Chattahoochee River, losing an hour traveling to Georgia and playing road games oftentimes more than an hour and a half away took its toll. His solution was to join the AISA his first season.
Because Trinity Christian does not have a weight room or basketball gymnasium at the school, most players had to exercise on their own, and preseason practices were sometimes held in 100-degree heat if Opelika’s Covington Recreation Center wasn’t available.
Additionally, there was a steep learning curve going from coaching baseball to coaching basketball. Gardner intended to turn the program around by creating an elaborate system, but it didn’t take long for him to realize he had taken the wrong approach. A scheduling philosophy centered around playing larger schools early in the season to become battle-tested before area play certainly didn’t help either.
“I was wrong. I was very wrong,’ he said. “I don’t remember the exact record of how we started last year, but it wasn’t good. We were like 3-8 or 3-9 at one point coming out of non-area play. We had had a really hard start to the season and a lot of long bus drives home after some frustrating losses, and I had to just constantly evaluate what I was doing as a coach, how I was leading them and how I was coaching them.”
Once the Eagles settled into area play, things started to click and Gardner focused his time on the “unattractive details”: basic execution, fundamentals, discipline and work ethic. By the end of the year, the team had turned a corner and gone from 3-8 to 9-10. Although the Eagles eventually lost to Escambia Academy in the AISA boys’ 1A semifinal and a handful of seniors graduated, the foundation was set.
With a season of familiarity under their belt, minus five players lost to graduation or transfer, the Eagles’ main goal entering 2024 was simple: win a state championship. While there were other smaller goals, including winning the area to get better seeding in the state tournament and making it back to the semifinals, their intent was unmistakable.
Yet for all the eagerness to hit the court, Trinity’s season didn’t start smoothly. A 9-1 start hid difficulties in several key matchups, including a crushing 71-39 home loss to eventual AISA 2A state champions Valiant Cross Academy in November.
Several days later, their Thanksgiving tournament became a defining moment. After a shaky first-round win, Trinity found themselves trailing by eight points at halftime against Ezekiel Academy in the championship game. In the locker room, it was time for a gut check and the message was clear: it was time to take responsibility, play as a team and execute. The Eagles’ response was immediate, mounting a comeback that secured a thrilling 46-43 victory and, perhaps more importantly, a renewed sense of confidence that saw several new contributors step up.
Still, a rematch against Valiant Cross in Montgomery loomed large. While Trinity still lost 72-51, it was a far cry from the 32-point blowout earlier in the season and proved progress had been made in Gardner’s eyes.
The Christmas break also presented its own set of challenges as key players were away on vacation, leading to a few tough losses. Returning to action, they dropped their first area game to Abbeville Christian Academy, the team to beat in their area. With their backs against the wall, the turning point came in a tough, defensive 44-37 victory over their crosstown rival The Oaks School. That victory ultimately led to seven consecutive wins, including a 53-46 victory over Abbeville that exacted revenge and secured the area title.
According to Gardner, one of the most impressive aspects of the in-season turnaround was the fact that four of the team’s five starters were juniors or sophomores.
“I tell them, ‘Look, at some point in your time at this school, you’re going to get the opportunity to play. What are you going to do with that time when you get it?’ And for them, the guys that I have this year that didn’t play a whole lot last year, they’re playing,” Gardner said. “There are guys that have developed through hard work and staying at it, and it’s not without adversity. It’s not without struggles, and it’s not without frustration.”
Looking ahead, Gardner still has many goals he’d like to accomplish while Trinity’s boys’ head basketball coach. There are an untold number of young men and women he still hopes to positively impact through athletics, academics and faith in God in the coming years. But when looking back on his decision to join Trinity three years ago, he already has much to reflect upon, appreciate and be thankful for.
“I remember the day that I sat in my office at my previous job thinking about it, and I internally made the decision that I was going to reach out and apply. It was a big change going from broadcasting to being a teacher and a coach. So yeah, I would say it was a leap of faith, although I don’t want to be dramatic,” Gardner said.
