Bill Hopkins
Head Coach
8th Year
The 2006-2007 season signals the start of Coach Hopkins' 33rd year of coaching and his seventh season leading the Trojans' boys basketball program. In each of his six seasons at East his teams have improved with last year's 13 win season and appearance in the Section 4 Class A playoffs championship game his best team yet. Not a stranger to coaching basketball in the Corning Painted Post School District, Coach Hopkins started his high school coaching career at West High School in the mid-1970's leading the Vikings freshman and junior varsity teams. He served as head varsity boys coach for Thomas A. Edison  High School in Elmira Heights, New York from 1983 - 1990. Coach Hopkins then moved up to the college coaching ranks when he joined Division 3 Elmira College as an assistant coach. After six seasons with the Soaring Eagles, Coach Hopkins returned to the West High School program as an assistant Boys Varsity Coach. Born and raised in Schenectady, New York, Coach Hopkins played both varsity baseball and basketball at Draper High School in Schenectady. He graduated from SUNY Albany where he played four years of collegiate baseball. Coach Hopkins is a Physical Education teacher at Northside-Blodgett Middle School. He and his wife Margie have three sons - Jamie, Chris and Jeff, who is member of this year's East High team.

George Bacalles
Junior Varsity Coach
Assistant Varsity Coach
1st Year
George Bacalles enters his first year as our JV Basketball Coach at East. He has coached at the modified level for the past two years coaching both the Modified Boys and Girls 8th grade teams at Northside Blodgett. He also has been the Assistant Varsity Baseball Coach at East for the past seven years as well as compiling a 5 - 0 record coaching the Modified Football team at Northside Blodgett. Coach Bacalles lettered in Baseball at East and then played a year of baseball at Corning Community College. After receiving his teaching degree from snowy Oswego State, he received a job teaching 8th grade Humanities at Northside and is in his third year there. Coach Bacalles is also the webmaster for the Corning East Basketball and Baseball teams as well as Northside Blodgett. We are very excited to have Coach Bacalles on our staff. Our players will benefit from his enthusiasm.

Darrell Dening
Assistant Varsity Coach
6th Year
Coach Dening returns for his sixth year with the East High program as a Varsity Assistant Coach. Coach Dening brings extensive knowledge and experience to the East High program. He was a member of Coach Hopkins staff at Corning East as the Junior Varsity coach for five seasons. Coach Dening played varsity basketball, baseball, and soccer at Lowville Academy and Central School and was fortunate enough to be involved in a record setting season his senior year when his basketball team went 22 - 1. He attended St. Lawrence University where he played both basketball and baseball. Coach Dening is a physical education teacher at Northside Blodgett Middle School. He and his wife Alison, reside in Corning with their two daughters, Abigail and Madeline. We are very fortunate to have Coach Dening's knowledge and expertise of the East system again this season.

Tate Williams
Assistant Varsity Coach
2nd Year
Tate Williams joins our staff after graduating from Alfred University in 2004. He was a player on the Men’s Basketball Team for four years. He played on the golf team there as well. He was a 2 year starter on the hoops team and earned Defensive Player of the Year Honors his senior year. He went to high school in Clarendon, Vermont at Mills River Union. His senior year, he was the team captain, was selected all league first team and averaged 21 pts./game.  He also represented the South Region in the Vermont North/South All-Star Game. In addition, he earned the Red Sedegren Award for positive leadership and work ethic. Tate says: “I’ve always had a desire to coach basketball coming out of college. Having played competitive basketball all of my life, I feel I can utilize what I have learned as a player to help young athletes improve their overall game. I plan on learning a lot from Coach Hopkins and his staff and hope to make a positive impact.”Tate currently resides in Montour Falls, NY.