LYNN — Corey Bingham is no stranger to Lynn Tech. Now entering his third season at the boys basketball helm, he grew up in West Lynn where he says, “At that time, that’s where all the best hoopers were at.”
Bingham, who began his high school career at Lynn English before transferring two months later to Tech, said the competition made him a better player. Tech was always competing deep into the state playoffs.
After high school, where Bingham joined the 1,000-point club, he went to prep school before playing at the University of Toledo.
“After Prep school and [after I] got my grades together, I went to Toledo and played there,” Bingham said. “It was one of the best feelings of accomplishment I felt – being one of my mom’s first kids to go to college. To graduate was a great feeling, especially to do it for my mom, but just as importantly was to go back to my city to let the kids know they can go to college and it’s capable of doing.”
Showing young men there’s a path is one of the accomplishments Bingham’s most proud of.
“In any city, it’s hard for these kids to understand their value and know what they can accomplish,” Bingham said. “For me, I had my cousins who went away to college, so going to my aunt’s house and seeing UCLA and Michigan, they made it possible. I always say, ‘You need to see it to achieve it.’”
“If you don’t see anyone do it before you, or just see anyone do it in general, it’s going to be hard for you to believe you can,” Bingham said.
While Bingham was at Toledo, English basketball coach Alvin Abreu was at the University of New Hampshire, where the two of them started to form a basketball bond.
“Once Alvin Abreu and I, who started out as Lynn rivals, left Lynn, we would call each other. We’d talk about AAU tournaments, prep school games, and all different stuff,” Bingham said. “We built a bond after that is deeper than a best friendship because we were both trying to do something to bring up the city and our families.”
But once both of them left college and fulfilled their basketball dreams, they returned to Lynn.
“Fast forward [and] we both came home. Antonio Anderson gets the Lynn English basketball job and both Alvin and myself become assistant coaches,” Bingham said. “We both would pick each other’s brains and, to this day, Tech and English are like brothers. We come from the same coaching tree, so our teams play similarly to one another.”
Being on the bench during the Lynn City Tournament, Bingham realized he wanted to help turn things around at Tech.
“I told one of the other coaches that if I get a chance to come and coach here, I’m going to rebuild it to how it was when I was there,” Bingham said. “We won our conference and state vocational, but I feel like the big thing is the state championship. What I know Tech as is competing for state championships and having a winning feeling.”
Now entering his third season in charge, Bingham is starting to bring that back. Look no further than Tech’s 19-4 record this past winter.
“At one point, no one was talking about Tech. This past season, people are starting to talk again about us,” Bingham said. “Now we’re in the conversation and that’s good, but we need to start getting in the championship conversation and it starts with winning the city championship. We’ve got to win that to conquer the city. It’s one step at a time.”
Bingham said he couldn’t do anything without his assistant coaches Keith Chandler, Jarred Bingham, and Sted Boudreau.
For Bingham – who can often be seen taking in other Tech sporting events – his mission is more than a basketball record.
“When I got the Tech job, my biggest thing was school spirit,” Bingham said. “I give St. Mary’s and English the best school spirit. They get all of their students to go to the games and show support. The beauty of that is that it comes full circle. If you go to the baseball games, they’ll go to your game. It makes the school spirit go up. That’s how it was when I was in school. I’m going to try to get the guys back to being there for their school.”
From his high school days, to his coaching days, Bingham lives every day with that Tiger pride.
