OAKLEAF - For Oakleaf High's only boys' basketball coach Jason Price, the opportunity to get closer to his hometown Michigan area was one big reason to step down from the Palace after 16 years.

"My son Ezra is going to be in high school, and I've always wanted to coach him. My wife's family is from the area where we are going," said Price, who accumulated a county-leading 241 wins against 166 losses as the Knights' coach with a handful of standout college players (68 to date), like Nassir Little (North Carolina and the NBA), Jonathan Bryant (Tampa/China, Montenegro pro leagues), Dylan Lewis (Lynn Univ) and Kevin Thomas-Griffin (West Virginia) among them. "We have some family health issues and wanted to be closer to that as well."

Price is heading to a small high school, Hesperia High, to turn a program into a similar program as Oakleaf. Hesperia's last winning season was 11-10 in 2016.

"When they built Oakleaf and I left Fleming Island, there were a lot expectations of success quickly," said Price, noting that his wife, Chrissy was a 1999 graduate of Hesperia High. "It took Middleburg a couple years when they opened before they won their first game."

Price said Hesperia High was a one room schoolhouse built in the 1890s, and that wife Chrissy's parents owned the local sawmill that employed much of the town. Price said Hesperia is about as big as Keystone Heights High.

"Basketball is very big in Michigan, and I grew up with the Wolverines Fab Five and the Detroit Pistons when I was in junior high," Price said. "I hear the meet-and-greet for me is going to be pretty big."

With that, Price has embarked on a coaching career that spanned the 16 years with three recent district titles among eight district finals appearances, eight region playoff berths as far back as 2014, and three Coach of Year selections.

Price recalled his 48-47 district championship win over Ponte Vedra in 2023 as a memorable game that got a region playoff win over Tate (first region playoff win) before a 47-42 loss to Gainesville in the semifinal. Ponte Vedra, ironically, was at top seed, and finished as Class 6A runner-up. Oakleaf finished with an astounding 24-2 season record with two losses coming from Providence in overtime and a region semifinal against Gainesville. Providence, 28-3, finished in the 3A Final Four semifinal.

"To win in their very loud gym at Ponte Vedra with very good play on both sides was a blessing for those guys," Price said. "Ponte Vedra and Gainesville were probably the top teams in the 6A region at that point for a few years. We played right up to that level that year with guys like Dylan Lewis, Michael Compere, and Sean Jones. I didn't draw up a single thing in that final possession with 2.3 seconds on the clock and told them that they were going to run and we had played the defense like champion defense that we had."

The game Price would like back was the district championship contest at Fletcher High.

"We had that won, but didn't close it," Price said. "We lost 33-30 in a tough defensive battle, then got to the playoffs against Lake Howell."

One player on that team was senior guard Dallas Skinner, who Price dubbed his most surprising turnaround player for his tenure at Oakleaf.

"He barely made our freshman team and weighed maybe a buck 40 on a 6-foot-3 frame, but he worked his butt off for four years to play varsity," Price said. "From there, he got to college (University of Mobile). Dallas is the example I tell about being a role player; not the best athletic body, but super hard working, super smart player and just did everything a coach would ask."

Ironically, Skinner got the final turnover, a deflected pass, to seal the district final win over Ponte Vedra.

Price knows he will miss the Oakleaf basketball community, but he hopes his homecoming will start a similar history in Michigan.

"I was a pretty good high school player, played college at Western Michigan and grew up being a huge University of Michigan and Detroit Pistons follower," Price said. "It's pretty special to be able to return to the area I grew up in."

Price's most colorful or innovative player was guard Jeremy Brockington of the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

"One of the funniest kids to ever be around," Price said. "Wild because he would come in with a cowboy hat, but he was the guy who got the team energized."

One final memory that Price said told him Oakleaf's basketball community was special was to see an Oakleaf Monopoly game in the new Walmart recently built.

"Ezra saw it and thought it was pretty cool that the nickname for the gym, the Palace, was in a Monopoly game," Price said.