Coming after a season where his first home game fell on his January birthday, Apprentice School Head Men’s Basketball Coach Franklin Chatman got to savor the first appearance for the Builders in the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association Nationals since 2007-08.

Chatman starts his third season with the Builders returning 10 players from a team that finished 17-11 and took fourth place in the USCAA Nationals last March in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

He joined the Builders after two seasons as the head coach at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy. While there, his teams participated in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools and played a schedule loaded with regional power private schools. Two of his former players have gone onto NCAA Division I athletics at Marshall and South Carolina.

Chatman was an assistant for the Apprentice School men’s team in the 2005-06 season where he assisted with planning and running of practice, game preparation, recruiting, video breakdown and eligibility review.

His coaching in the area began at Suffolk’s Nansemond River High School in the 1999-2000 season. While at Nansemond River for five years, he coached a powerhouse Warrior squad that was a perennial regional tournament participant. Several of his former players went onto various levels of post-secondary education including Virginia Commonwealth University, U.S. Naval Academy, Elizabeth City State University, Hampton University, Norfolk State University. He also coached three former Apprentice School players - Eric Joe, Fred Spratley and Thomas Scott.

“It has always been a dream of mine to become a collegiate head coach,” said Chatman. “For it to happen where I got my first collegiate coaching job at The Apprentice School, I couldn’t be happier.”

During his five years at Nansemond River, he was named Eastern Region Coach of the Year for the 2001-02 season. He was also a two-time Southeastern District Coach of the Year winner and won Suffolk Coach of the Year honors four straight years.

Chatman is a graduate of Virginia State University with a bachelor’s degree in business education in 1994. While at Virginia State he played three years for the men’s basketball team. His teams made the CIAA Tournament final once and lost in the semifinals once during his playing days. He earned a master’s degree in administration and supervision from Old Dominion University in 2003. Chatman and his wife Sonya are the parents of two sons – Franklin, II (13) and Tyler (10).

In his 16th year on the coaching staff, Apprentice School graduate Cliff Coleman has seen the program develop into a respected basketball team in the region and in the USCAA.

A former standout point guard, Coleman’s name can be found throughout the record books under assists and steals where he ranks among the best in school history.

He has been the lead recruiter for the Builders and has helped bring in some of the talent to the program.

Coleman and his wife Devona have two sons, Clifford, III and Chase.He graduated from the Apprentice School in 1996.

Former Norfolk State University standout Derrick Bryant is in his third year on the Apprentice School men’s coaching staff.

Bryant, a Nansemond River High School graduate, was a four-year standout on the Spartans and was a NCAA Division II All-American as a senior in 1996.

Following his playing career at NSU, he played for 10 years overseas professionally before becoming an assistant at his high school alma mater in 2006.

He also served with Chatman as an assistant on the Boo Williams 16U AAU teams from 2006-2010. Bryant and his wife Tiffany are the parents of two sons, DJ and Dylan.