Elijah Garrison knows all about setting expectations.

As a former prep and college basketball player, it sort of comes with the territory.

So, in 2020, the Fairview alum laid out a short-term plan — to become a head coach at the varsity level as soon as possible.

Consider those expectations met.

Garrison was officially announced as New Hope’s boys basketball coach last week and will now have the opportunity to give back to the game that’s given so much to him.

“When I left UAH, this was the goal — to be a head coach,” Garrison said. “I reached out and talked to a lot of coaches, including Coach (Lennie) Acuff. He said if I wanted to be a head coach this early (age 25), it was a great opportunity for me. I went through the process, had two interviews and got a call asking if I wanted the job. Now that it’s here, it’s exciting.”

Garrison graduated from Fairview in 2014.

During his exemplary prep tenure, he helped the Aggies earn a county tournament title (2013) and two area tournament titles (2011 and 2013), notched All-County honors (2014) and finished with 998 career points before eventually signing a scholarship with UAH.

After redshirting, Garrison appeared in 39 games over the next four seasons (2015-19) for the Chargers and was a part of 91 wins and three Division II NCAA Tournament appearances. 

Upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, Garrison joined UAH as an assistant for the 2019-20 season. The Chargers went 26-5 under Coach John Shulman before their campaign was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most recently, Garrison was a varsity assistant at Arab (2020-21) before accepting his new position.

He said those experiences — and the people who helped along the way — will be beneficial moving forward.

“I think Coach Acuff gets a lot of credit. My dad, too,” Garrison said. “He put a basketball in my hand and is a big reason why I love it. There hasn’t been a day where we haven’t talked about basketball. In high school, I got a very good example from Coach (Greg) Boatright on how to be a coach at a small school. In college, people not involved with basketball don’t realize how big of a name Lennie Acuff is. Getting to learn from him — how to be a coach of young men and about basketball — was the best learning experience. Coach Shulman got me ready, too, getting to see it from a coaching point of view. Coach (Patrick) Harding (at Buckhorn) has been really good about helping me with the transition as well.”

As for the foundation he plans to lay at New Hope, Garrison said his first task is establishing the culture he wants.

“That’s going to get set, and people are going to know what I expect,” he said. “I want to make sure they know my non-negotiables. When we break it down, we say, ‘family.’ I love that. Because, at the end of the day, it’s you and your two assistants and your 10 guys against everybody else.”