Holy Spirit Returns a Ton of Talent for New Coach Kyle Dhyne

For the first time in 15 seasons, the Holy Spirit High School boys basketball program will have a new face roaming the sidelines.The Absecon school parted ways with Jamie Gillespie back in June and appointed his longtime assistant, Kyle Dhyne, as the teams new head coach.

"Being the guy in charge has been the biggest adjustment," explained Dhyne. "As an assistant you always have responsibility, but as head coach you are held accountable for everything."

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Dhyne is getting a taste of that right off the bat, his team has some issues with COVID so managing that has been a big adjustment.

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The 41-year old says he wants his team to play fast and push the ball offensively and get out and defend on the defensive end.

"We want to play freely, play with energy," Dhyne stated.

He has the talent to do that with four returning starters, nine letter-winners and some key new comers on the roster

He has a deep and talented junior class, led by Jahmir Smith (18.4 ppg, 3.2 assists and 3.1 steals), Jamil Wilkins (13.1), Ky Gilliam (8.2 and 7.2 rebounds) and Jayden Llanos (6.2), all were starters a year ago. The Spartans also return Sean Kane, George Coles, Frank Gilliam, Emmett Kane and Aidan Saul.

One name the Spartans will have to replace is Hasanur Freeman, who averaged 10.6 points per game last season, he moved to Virginia in the offseason.

Some of the newcomers to watch this season, who could help the Spartans are a trio of juniors, Rocco Arici, Jordan Coles, Justin Hackett and David Legette, along with freshman Khajuan Roseborough.

So where does Dhyne see his team this season?

"I would love to be considered Top 5 but not sure we are there yet," Dhyne said. "Our goal is to compete every night and in the end compete for the CAL title."

Dhyne is a former Spartan and been a part of the program for the last 26 years, having played at the school from 1994-98. He has been on the bench for a lot of successful teams over the years and has seen what it takes to get to the top of the Cape-Atlantic League standings.

After playing and graduating from Holy Spirit, he returned to become the Spartans’ freshmen coach, being hired by former Holy Spirit head coach Tom Attanasi, who Dhyne says has been the most influential in his coaching career.

He also lists St. Augustine Prep coach Paul Rodio and former Spartans head coach Jamie Gillespie are all coaches he has learned the most from.

He has some help with some familiar names in the Spartans community on his bench. Former Spartans star Dennis Horner, who stared at the school and went on to play at North Carolina State and had a cup of coffee with the Nets, Lamar James, Jim Pontari, Sean "Woody" Dixon and Rob Mancineli round out his staff.

The Spartans have all the pieces to get back to the top of the Cape-Atlantic League ladder, and they feel they have the right coach to get them there.

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