Entering his 12th season as head coach of The Apprentice School,
Bill Tose has seen the program come from the depths to mountain top
and is eager to get it back to the summit.
He has helped bring in an influx of talented players over the
years who not only have brought the program up from a 1-24 season
prior to his starting, but those players he has brought in have
finished the program and are in throughout the company. Over 40% of
the players who have played under Tose have graduated and are
throughout the company. A number that is steadily
improving.
Also in that timeframe, six players have joined the Builders
program returning to the area from NCAA Division I programs.
In his 11 previous seasons, the Builders have produced 19 USCAA
All-Americans (eight first-team and 11 honorable mention).
Williamsburg native Charles Holiday was the first Apprentice
three-time USCAA All-American, and he was recruited by Tose.
During his tenure, his teams have rewritten the record books
setting 62 single game, season and career records. His teams have
also gone to post-season four times coming home with a pair of
championships (2001-02, 2002-03) and a pair of third-place finishes
(2003-04, 2007-08).
In Tose's first three years, the Builders improved every season
capped off with a jump from an 11-14 mark in 2000-01 to a 23-5
record in 2001-02 and the first USCAA Division I National
Championship. That season the Builders won 16 of its last 17 games,
including the last nine. He was also named USCAA Coach Of The Year
for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.
The 2006-07 season saw Tose break into the 100 victory club as
his Builders defeated NAIA powerhouse Voorhees College (SC) 76-66
on the road for the historic win.
Tose had been a health instructor in the York County school
system from when he finished college until six years ago. He is an
elementary school physical education teacher for the
Williamsburg/James City County School system. Tose and his wife
Gail have two sons William, Jr. and Ryan. He graduated from West
Virginia State College in 1972.
In his tenth 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 who held the
single-season assist and steal records until the 2007-08 season
when both were broken by Eric Ruffin (assists and steals) and Jason
Arrington (steals).
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.
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Tony Collins |
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Assistant Coach
757-688-4950
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A long time collegiate coach in the south, Collins joins
the Apprentice School staff this year as an assistant coach.
He joins the staff after three seasons as head coach at Virginia
State University. With the Trojans, he turned the team into a
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association contender winning 20
games in the 2007-08 season. That marked the most wins at VSU
since they won 21 in 1991. Collins graduated from VSU playing under
long-time coach Harold Deane. He returned to his alma mater
after 16 years as an assistant at Austin Peay State University.
