For 13 years, Devaughn Drayton was a fixture as the head girls varsity high-school basketball coach of the Yorktown Patriots, winning 123 games in those seasons.
Drayton’s tenure as coach ended in recent days, when he stepped down from that position.
“The [basketball] team is in a good spot with experience and talent next year, and is ready to take off with a new coach,” Drayton told ARLnow. “Coaching is very time-consuming now, and it is the right time now for me to move on.”
One of Yorktown’s best seasons under Drayton came in 2021-22 campaign, when the Patriots finished with a 20-5 overall record. The Patriots were first in the Liberty District regular-season standings with an 11-1 record, then won the league’s postseason tournament before falling in the region-tournament semifinals.
Drayton was chosen as the district’s Coach of the Year that season.
This past season, Yorktown finished strong at 10-16, earning a region-tourney berth and nearly upsetting the Oakton Cougars in the first round.
The Patriots had started the at 3-10. “The players and team got better as the season went on,” Drayton said.
Drayton also has been an assistant golf coach at Yorktown, and served as an assistant for a season with the boys lacrosse program. He continues to work full-time at Yorktown in the safety-and-security department.
Drayton is a graduate of Wakefield High School, where he played for the boys basketball team. He later became the head coach of the girls basketball team at his alma mater for three seasons, the last in 2007-08.
He won 28 games at Wakefield, giving him 151 career wins.
