By Robert Wilson
Henry Gantz made noise across the MAIS girls basketball circles for the past two seasons as he led his Central Hinds Academy girls teams to back-to-back Class 4A state championships and then had two wins over Class 6A teams in the Overall Tournament and reached the semifinals, the best finishes in school history.
Gantz, hired as Jackson Academy’s new coach replacing legendary coach Jan Sojourner, wants to take the Lady Raiders to state and Overall championships, something Sojourner did many times in her 40 years at JA.
The 41-year-old Indianola Academy and Ole Miss graduate has more than 500 games in his 18-year career. Gantz has won 502 games, 310 girls and 192 boys, with stops at Briarfield (La.) Academy (boys and girls for three years), Central Private (La.) (girls for three years and boys for two), Copiah Academy (boys for two years and girls for one), and Central Hinds Academy (girls for 10 years and four for boys). He won 241 girls games at Central Hinds.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Gantz as our new head girls basketball coach at Jackson Academy,” JA athletic director Brandt Walker said. “His passion for the game, commitment to player development, and dedication to building a championship culture makes him the perfect fit for our program. We look forward to seeing the impact he will have on our student-athletes both on and off the court.”
It was a difficult decision for Gantz to leave Central Hinds.
“Central Hinds has been great to me,” Gantz said. “The faculty, board of directors, parents, and the fans have been overwhelmingly supportive for 10 great years. It’s a great place to coach. Most importantly, I want to thank my players, past and present. It’s been a special journey and I want to thank them for what they built. I know it will continue.”
But the opportunity to come to JA – a school located in Northeast Jackson and three times the enrollment as Central Hinds, located in Raymond – was too great to pass up.
“JA’s facilities, athletes, and winning tradition are all great as well as an outstanding academic school,” said Gantz, who also is the director of the Mississippi Jazz AAU organization. “Coach Sojourner has been tremendous for such a long time, and I will work to continue what she built.”
Sojourner finished her 45-year head coaching career, the last 40 at JA, as the third winningest girls basketball coach in Mississippi history. She won 1,053 games, 10 state championships and a MAIS record six Overall girls titles. Sojourner is the last coach to win back-to-back Overall girls titles in 2016 and 2017. She did that twice, also winning back-to-back in 2001 and 2002.
Gantz was an All-MAIS player at Indianola Academy (coached by David Midlick and the late Ed Waldrup) and was the MVP of the MAIS All-Star Game in 2001. Gantz was also a state champion tennis player at Indianola.
“Coach Waldrup coached me in basketball my junior and senior years and was a big influence and I miss talking to him,” Gantz said. “He led us to the state championship and Overall as a junior in his first year. He taught me intensity. Coach Midlick coached me my sophomore year, I was lucky to be coached by someone who went on to coach college at a high level (now head women’s coach at Arkansas-Monticello).”
After graduating from Ole Miss, Gantz was looking for a job and Lance Prince gave him an opportunity.
“I got into coaching because Lance Prine offered me a job at Briarfield and I didn’t have a job,” Gantz said. “I never planned on being a coach, but Briarfield was sports crazy and I got hooked. Lance Prine, Craig Dailey and Hoyte Carothers influenced me the most, with Craig been the biggest.”
“I think the world of Henry,” said Dailey, who has won 1,355 boys and girls games in 32 career seasons and is in his third season back at Delta Academy, his second stint there, and is also head of school. “If I had a daughter, I would want her to play for him. Henry has the uncommon ability to form relationships with his players that allows him to make them believe and reach their full potential. It can be hard to form coaching friendships when you compete as he and I do, but somehow, we have always had the ability to leave it on the floor and be brutally honest with each other. We definitely come from the same cloth. Nobody, I would rather have in my foxhole.”
Two of Gantz’s biggest wins in his career came in the last two seasons on MAIS’ biggest stage, the Overall at Mississippi College in Clinton. Two years ago, Central Hinds surprised 6A state champion Jackson Prep in triple overtime in the Overall quarterfinals and then this last season defeated 6A state runner-up Presbyterian Christian School in the Overall quarterfinals. Central Hinds had never reached that far in the Overall before then in its school history.
“I’m happy for Henry. He’s a coach who has cut his teeth at some smaller schools and worked his way up the coaching ladder. His path reminds me a lot of my career path,” said Prep coach Michael McAnally, who coached at smaller schools Huntington, La., and East Rankin Academy before coming to Prep, his alma mater, 11 years ago. “Henry will have his JA teams prepared. I expect them to pressure in the full court and change defenses throughout the game. His teams are usually patient offensively but very skilled. I look forward to competing against him in the storied Jackson Prep-Jackson Academy rivalry.”
“Gantz’s teams are fundamental and compete at a high level,” said Leake Academy coach Amanda Hatch, who has played Gantz at least every year since he arrived at Central Hinds. “He always has them prepared with great game plans, and they expect to be successful.”
Sojourner was named the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Coach of the Year after leading JA to a turnaround season. After Sojourner had back-to-back losing seasons for only the second time in her career at JA, she put together a 20-win season, the 33rd of her terrific career.
Gantz will inherit JA’s two of its top three leading scorers from last season, rising seniors Aubrey Chambers and Jayden Rhymes, and two of the top three rebounders, 5-foot-8 rising senior Ella King and 5-10 rising junior Mylee Maurer.
“It is hard to replace a coach like Coach Sojourner, but I think Coach Gantz is an amazing coach,” King said. “When I found out he was named head coach I was thrilled. It was the best senior gift I could have asked for. I’ve played AAU ball under him (with the Mississippi Jazz) for two years and he has taught me so much, so to have him at JA is going to be huge. Coach Gantz not only has an incredible ability to motivate players to be their very best and give their all, but he also brings an intensity and knowledge to the game that will work well with the talent we have at JA. We are going to give him all we have and work to win a championship.”
I am so happy for Coach Gantz,” Sojourner said. “There is no better place to coach, teach and work than Jackson Academy. I love JA and my prayer for Coach Gantz is that this program will be as rewarding for him as it has been for me.”
Gantz is the son of Debbie and Henry Gantz. Debbie was the head of the biology department at Mississippi Delta Community College for 15 years and recently retired. Henry worked at the Jackson Daily News newspaper and was an agricultural journalist for the Delta Farm Press and was head of the Catfish Institute. Both Debbie and Henry are retired, Debbie lives in Inverness and Henry in Oxford. Gantz’s sisters, Julia and Katherine, were All MAIS in basketball and state champions in tennis. Julia is an occupational therapist, and Katherine is a physician and was named the Female Physician of the Year in Mississippi. Both Julia and Katherine live in Oxford. Gantz’s wife is Shelby Wilson Gantz from Byram. She played softball at Northwest Mississippi Community College. They have one son, nine-month-old Beau Beckham Gantz.
