COTTONWOOD — It’s been nearly a decade since a Mingus boys basketball program has made an appearance in the 4A state playoffs, but a little help from an old cross-town rival may give them the jump start they need.

Entering his second year on the job, Mingus coach Austin Hudson may seem like a familiar name to local basketball fans. And that’s because he is.

Graduating from Camp Verde in 2009, the 34-history teacher played a large role in the Cowboys’ success those years, making the state playoffs all four years, including a No. 1 seed out of the north region and 69-67 overtime victory over Thatcher to advance to the 2A state Elite 8 his sophomore year.

Players like Jordan Lewis, Seth Mosley and Ricardo Pacheco were part of those teams as well, making it one of the most successful runs in Camp Verde history under then head coach Darren Gagnon.

Hudson hopes he can recreate that magic in Cottonwood with his new team, the Marauders.

“I grew up in the area. The way I look at it, it is the same community and the same kind of kids. I love coaching these kids, there’s nobody here that has a silver spoon,” Hudson said before a home game Jan. 7 against Lee Williams, a 60-53 victory. “They work hard for what they get, and I can relate to these kids.”

Hudson began his coaching career at his alma mater under longtime leader Dan Wall in Camp Verde, running the junior varsity program and being an assistant for Wall from 2012-2017.

“Austin was an incredible asset to our program in the time he coached at Camp Verde. Between helping with junior varsity and varsity, he was relational with the kids, knew the game and taught it at a high level,” Wall said via text to AzPreps365.com. “He did an excellent job motivating kids to work hard and get better daily. He spent many extra hours with kids both in the gym and weight room and was an integral part of everything we did.”

Hudson said that Wall is his “base” for coaching philosophy.

“Anything from how you treat the kids, to how you interact with the community, to all the basketball specific stuff,” Hudson said. “Things we run are things Dan used to run or still runs [offensively-defensively]. I still give Dan a call from time to time. I’m definitely thankful for my time there.”

After Camp Verde, Hudson took his first job as athletic director and head boys basketball coach at The Orme School, winning a CAA (Canyon Athletic Association, a non-AIA school) Coach of the Year award before joining Dave Beery’s staff at Mingus as the freshman coach.

“Orme was an amazing experience for me. The boarding school environment for one, we were taking international kids from all over the world. We’d get some really good players to come through there,” Hudson said. “Some of those boys I still talk with all the time, those special relationships you get coaching. We were able to send a few of them to college [to play]. You really learn how to serve the kids, especially in that boarding [school] environment.”

But after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, bringing international players stateside to Orme became a struggle, and Hudson felt it was time to move on.

Mingus was waiting with open arms.

“Coach [Dave] Beery has been amazing,” Hudson said of Beery, who is the current principal at Mingus, adding that his freshman team was solid in his first year, and many of them still play for him today at Mingus.

Hudson went 8-16 in his first year at the helm and now entering year two, he’s hoping for more.

“We have eight juniors in the program, and we are starting to finally, in my second year as head coach, turn a corner. Those guys are still learning, growing and getter better, but we are starting to see signs that we can be really good,” Hudson said.

Hudson is all about family, and with a 3-year-old daughter who can be seen frequently at practice, and 9-month-old son at home, Mingus seem up front and personal who their coach really is.

“My wife is a saint for letting me do this and putting up with it. It’s a challenge, but it’s also important for the boys to see that I’m a family man and we strive to create a family environment,” said Hudson, who hopes his philosophy will breed success.

“It can show them how to balance having a hard job, being the coach, being a dad,” Hudson said. “Those are things that I don’t talk about much, but they see it. “

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.