The all-time winningest men’s basketball coach in Orange High School history is back in the Big 8 Conference.
Ironically, it’s now with the school that was once considered his biggest rival.
Greg Motley has been named the new head coach at Southern Durham High School. He started in his new role Thursday morning.
Motley replaces David Noel, the former UNC star who was a member of the 2005 National Championship team. Noel left after one season at his alma mater to join the Capital City Go-Go of the NBA Gatorade League as an assistant coach.
Motley remained a teacher at Orange even after stepping down as head men’s basketball coach at the end of the 2017-18 season, when he was replaced by Derryl Britt. Motley was also a frequent attendee at Orange games last season.
Motley joined Orange as an assistant coach and head JV coach under Frank Meadows in 1993-94. After Meadows stepped down at the end of the 1996-97 season, Motley inherited a program that had stood in the shadow of its neighbors to the south, Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill, for ages.
As East and Chapel Hill claimed state championships in 1997 and 1987, respectively, Orange had a winless season in 1988. They went over a decade without a winning season.
In Motley’s first year, Orange went to the 3rd round of the 4A state playoffs when they defeated Lee County in Hillsborough.
The years of 2013-2017 were Motley’s most successful. Under his watch, Orange went 83-30. In 2014, Orange played for the 3A Eastern Regional Championship, where they lost to Wilson Hunt 66-60 at Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville. It is the closest Orange has come to winning a state title since earning the 3A State Championship in 1968.
In 2016, Orange won the Big 8 Tournament Championship after beating Southern Durham at Chapel Hill High School. It was Orange’s first postseason tournament championship since the early 1980s.
The following year was, arguably, Motley’s best team. The Panthers went 23-7. They defeated Eastern Guilford to win the Eastern Guilford Holiday Tournament Championship, despite trailing 18-2 early. The Panthers won the Big 8 regular season championship behind the play of 6-8 guard Connor Crabtree and center Logan Vosburg. Crabtree hit a running one-hander with two seconds remaining to beat Southern 80-79 on January 27 in Hillsborough to all but sew up the regular season title.
While Southern beat Orange 87-75 for the Big 8 Tournament Championship, the Panthers appeared to be the team to beat in the 3A state playoffs. They rolled past Grey’s Creek and Southern Guilford. In the third round, the Panthers stormed out to a 28-2 lead against Triton in what resembled a highlight mixtape instead of a basketball game during the first quarter. Then Crabtree tore a ligament in his right ankle going up for a rebound, ending his Orange career.
Orange still defeated the Hawks 67-47, but the offense worked through Crabtree. Without him, Northern Guilford defeated the Panthers 56-48 in the state quarterfinals two nights later in Hillsborough.
Motley resigned after the 2017-18 season, where Orange finished 9-16.
Last season, Motley remained in basketball at Mount Zion Christian Academy as a postgraduate coach. He was joined by his former staff at Orange.
Motley will inherit a Southern team that went 20-7 in 2018-19. Last year, the Spartans reached the Big 8 Tournament Championship game, where they lost to Hillside 71-69. Northwood upset the Spartans in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs.
With Hillside now in the 4A Triangle 8 Conference, Southern may be the Big 8 favorites. They return All-Conference performer Ahmad Hamilton and junior guard Aaron Hall.
Even after stepping down as basketball coach, Motley stayed close with his former players through difficult times. Motley coached current Orange kicker, quarterback and forward Nigel Slanker since fourth grade. Slanker was diagnosed with a baseball-sized brain tumor in the summer of 2018, leaving him unable to walk for several weeks. Motley remained in daily contact with him through texts, phone calls and personal visits.