- December 4, 2025
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As a kid, London Hatch watched from the stands as his older brother, Ledger, was part of not one but two state-championship-winning teams at Dr. Phillips High, as a freshman on the 2017 Panthers football team and as a senior as a member of the 2020-21 boys basketball team.
It’s safe to say after seeing this type of success from the sidelines, the younger Hatch brother dreamed of having a similar experience when it was his turn to join the Panthers hoop squad as a freshman in 2022.
Like his older brother, Hatch has developed into a vital piece of the Panthers' program. Standing at 6-foot-4, DP’s sharpshooting wing is coming off a junior season in which he averaged 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists per game. However, unlike the experience the older Hatch brother had of playing for championship-level programs at DP, the past three seasons for little brother London has seen a combined 33-44 record and zero regional playoffs appearances.
But as London Hatch enters his final season of high school hoops, he has one big reason to think he’ll be able to help lead the Panthers back to prominence: the return of Ben Witherspoon as the program’s head coach.
“After Coach Ben left … we haven’t been a winning team,” London Hatch said. “But since Coach Ben has been back, he has instilled in us this desire to go out there and take everything back. … We want everyone that’s said DP isn’t what they used to be to eat their words. We want to make a statement that we’re back and we’re here to compete.”
Before leaving Dr. Phillips in 2022 to coach Division I college basketball, Witherspoon led the program to unprecedented heights in his three seasons as Panthers coach — combining for a 70-17 record, winning two district championships, two regional championships and winning the program’s first and only state championship, as well as reaching another state championship game.
Despite appearing in the state championship game in both of his final two seasons at Dr. Phillips, Witherspoon’s most impressive coaching performance came in his first year at the helm, taking the 12-15 team he inherited and turning the Panthers into a district-championship-winning team the very next season with a 20-8 record.
“To be a championship-level team, it begins with the level of players you have,” Witherspoon said. “In the state of Florida, it’s really hard to win without college-level players, because there’s so much talent here. … After that, for me, it’s about how you run a program; it’s about the standards that are set.”
The championship formula seems to be simple: high-level talent plus championship effort equals wins, and during the June live period — Witherspoon’s first chance to bring together and work with his 2025-26 team — he began implementing those standards into this group of players.
“From the moment I started back at Dr. Phillips this year, the focus has been on player development,” Witherspoon said. “The guys have been in the gym, competing at a high level, learning the game and getting better at understanding what it takes to win.”
The transfers of brothers Isaiah and Josiah Gillard to Dr. Phillips High also have added an injection of high-level talent to the Panthers.
“The guys have really taken to everything we’ve been prioritizing from Day One,” Witherspoon said. “A lot of that has to do with having that championship banner hanging in our gym for them to see every day. It helps with getting everyone to buy in. … One of the first pillars of our program we want them to buy into is that everyone is expected to be the ultimate teammate. They’ve done a really good job at that, of being unselfish and playing together — it’s made it really enjoyable to coach.”
Becoming a championship-level team requires players to adjust to championship standards. Part of that adjustment is understanding just how much effort it will take. Transfer guard Isaiah Gillard thinks his team has a clear picture of what that will look like.
“I know how much work it’s going to take to go into practice every day and treat each rep like it’s a championship,” he said. “It’s going to take so much energy and focus, but I’ve seen that level of dedication from all of our guys. ... I’m really excited to be on this journey.”
DP’s top returning player, London Hatch, agrees.
“I’ve been at DP for three years now, and just since the spring, I’ve seen my teammates — guys I’ve played with since my freshman and sophomore years — start to grow in a real way,” he said.
Witherspoon’s formula for building a championship program is focused on effort and talent, and less so beholden to a specific style of play on either end of the floor; which allows each team to develop its own identity. This specific group can be described as scrappy and physical on the defensive end of the floor.
“We’re going to be really fun to watch this season,” Witherspoon said. “A lot of that has to do with how hard they play on the defensive side of the ball. These guys have all bought into treating every possession as a championship, so they’re playing super hard from an effort standpoint and they have been extremely tough and physical. It’s a fun style to watch because of how scrappy and how hard we play.”
A key point that Witherspoon has harped on when it comes to how this group defends is communication.
“We really focused on defense in practice every day,” Gillard said. “I’ve definitely learned some new things with the defensive style coach has us playing. … We’re a lot more focused on staying in front of guys and on communication. I feel like we’ve picked up the communication side of defense and it’s helped us to beat some good teams during the June period. It’s crazy, because we’ve only been together as a team for a little while, but it feel like we’re a family already.”
On the other side of the court, DP’s offense isn’t centralized on its physicality or toughness — even though they can be while on the attack — the Panthers instead are much more cerebral in their approach.
“Offensively, we’re going to be fun to watch because of how much we share the ball,” Witherspoon said. “We have multiple guys (who) are really good decision-makers. Josiah Gillard, who I think is one of the best point guards in the state in his class, is an incredible passer. His brother, Isaiah, is extremely unselfish and has a great feel for the game. He’s smart, too, and a great passer. London Hatch, everyone knows is a great shooter, but what he hasn’t really had the chance to show is how incredible of a passer he is and how smart of a player he is. He’s been in a position where he had to take a lot of shots in the past but now he has some teammates around him that can score as well, so he’ll be able to show his passing ability.”
Based on the small sample size this group has been able to put together since Witherspoon returned to Southwest Orange, there’s more than enough evidence to suggest that the 2025-26 Panthers hoops program will take a step forward in its journey to take back its spot among the state’s elite teams.
“Our long-term goal is to build our program back to being one of the very best public high school programs in the country,” Witherspoon said. “As far as our expectations for this year, we expect to be competitive in the state. I’m not focused on getting to a specific number of wins, but our goal every year is to compete for the state championship. The main thing for me, though, is to maximize our improvement on a daily basis. We’re focused on how much better can we get every day and not leaving anything on the table.”
This mindset is something his players have not only bought into but are also aware of how it will help them improve their play once the season comes around.
“We’re going to surprise everyone,” Hatch said. “We’re even going to surprise ourselves a little bit by how much we’re going to grow this season and how much confidence we’re going to have as we continue to buy in to what coach is pushing us to do.”
