This morning, former Vanderbilt guard Drew Maddux was named head boys basketball coach at Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville.

"I am very excited to be here," said Maddux to VandySports.com's Mike Rapp at an announcement ceremony at CPA this afternoon. "It's a wonderful opportunity at a wonderful place. I've had a lot of friends and family who have been involved here, and when we were looking for schools for my up-and-coming kindergarten age child, CPA was a place that we were immediately attracted to."

"I felt called to be here," continued Maddux, who volunteered this past season as head coach for CPA's eighth-grade boys team. The team, Maddux's first as a coach, won the Harpeth Valley Athletic Conference title this spring.

"I had no plans at all to be in high school coaching, but felt called to do it," he continued. "I did a lot of praying, and a lot of thinking about it. It was something that struck me after coaching this year that it was something I wanted to pursue. It's amazing how God works, this opened up and I am thankful that Mike Ellison and Richard Anderson considered me.

"To get to do it where your family and kids are going to be, and to coach basketball at a spiritual environment, it's a great thing for me."

"We hired Drew because of his heart, and his servant attitude, and his desire to serve the Lord," said CPA athletic director Mike Ellison. "His coaching at CPA will reach far beyond the basketball court. We envision Drew going into the elementary school and reading to different elementary classes. Walking the sidelines at football games.

"Just being an encourager and a source of support to everything we do at CPA.

Maddux replaces Ken Brooks, who led the Lions to the Class A semifinals in 2004. CPA struggled last season after moving up to the AA level. Maddux was formerly a sales executive for Eclipsys Corp., a healthcare software company based in Boca Raton, FL.

"We've hired more than a basketball coach," said Ellison of Maddux. "We always remind our community to remember the "C" in CPA. We know that Drew is going to do that in a very admirable way."

Maddux, who grew up in Nashville and attended Goodpasture High School, is the fith leading scorer in Vanderbilt history. "We think that we can utilize his status and Vanderbilt connection as a strength to hopfully draw people to our program and our school," said Ellison.

Maddux made no bones about what sort of system he plans to implement at CPA. "You know me, it's going to be uptempo, very quick, push the ball in transition. I love to chuck it from 19-9, so there will be a lot of threes and guard-oriented plays."

Maddux, who remains very visible in his support of his alma mater, also said he will use a lot of what he learned from his playing days at Vandy. "Jan van Breda Kolff is the master of halfcourt sets," he said. "I'll incorporate a lot of that stuff with motion offense. We'll speed the game up defensively and offensively."

"I subscribe to the Dean Smith motto very hard core: Play together, play smart -- we will be very versed in the fundamentals -- play hard, and have fun. If you do those things it will be a good experience for the team."

"If we do what we are supposed to do, we will win a lot of games," he said.

"I believe in the Parable of the Talents. All kids are different, and unique, and they need to be treated that way and celebrated. If you have five talents, two talents or one talent, it doesn't matter. You need to bring your very best effort and your very best attitude, and we will celebrate that."

Maddux joins Kevin Anglin and Ronnie McMahan as former Commodore guards who have moved on to head up local high school basketball programs. Anglin and McMahan coach at crosstown rival Montgomery Bell Academy.

Maddux, who has remained close friends with both Anglin and McMahan, joked that he looks forward to facing up with his former VU teammates on opposing sidelines. "It's funny because we all play together in pick-up games at Memorial Gym, so now we'll have one more thing to get some talk going! There will be a little trash talking going on," he laughed.

CPA athletics director Mike Ellison and Maddux lamented that CPA, unfortunately, is not scheduled to face MBA this year, but Maddux promises to remedy that situation. "We're looking at future schedules to see if we can make that happen," said Ellison.

"What a blessing to have those two guys over there," said Maddux of Anglin and McMahan. "It is cool to see guys stay in town, be involved, and want to be in the community in scholastic sports. The kids at MBA are very blessed to have those guys.

Maddux, who has been a guest basketball analyst on 104.5 The Zone this past year, said he got good advice from many trusted colleagues about whether he should pursue the CPA opening. "I spoke with Steve Reese about the opportunity," said Maddux of the former Vanderbilt guard who coaches at Goodpasture High School. "He coached me in high school, and I got his perspective.

"I talked with Charlie Benson, my former AAU coach, and everybody thought it was a natural gift set for me. I have the temperment, the leadership, the basketball knowledge -- and I've been coaching basketball since I was 15 years old at camps. So it was a natural thing.

"They just wondered what took so long."

"I've been fortunate to coach three of my new CPA kids this past summer on my AAU team. Hunter Miller, David Anderson and Zeke Mason were on my eighth grade team, so it will be a lot of fun to continue to build on those relationships. All 12 of my AAU guys will be moving up into the varsity ranks, so I'll have those guys to work with as well.

Maddux, who attended the press conference in suit and tie, joked that he had to look long and hard for a piece of clothing that had purple in it. "I finally found this tie that had something close to purple in it," he joked.

When asked if he was going to get a purple sports jacket, Maddux laughed and said, "Absolutely! Tell people to go to Goodwill and see if they can find one -- that's probably the only place you could find a purple sports coat!"

Would he wear it? "Absolutely! I promise you, the first time we go to the playoffs, I will wear a purple jacket. And you can print that!"