Amell expects big year at The Byrnes School
By David Shelton
Staff Writer
Florence – Jared Amell is wearing a lot of hats around The Byrnes School these days but he would have it no other way.
Amell is the school’s athletic director, but also serves as the head football coach, the head boy’s basketball coach and the head girl’s basketball coach. He might not admit it, but Amell probably can’t wait for the spring to arrive.
“I do stay pretty busy but I enjoy what I do and I love coaching kids,” said Amell. “It’s a lot of work and sacrifice but it’s what I want to do. I’m coaching both basketball teams in the winter and that takes a lot of time but the kids make it easy. These are great kids to be around and great kids to coach.”
Talking with Amell, it’s easy to see how excited he is about Trojan athletics. He is energized about the coming school year and feels the school could experience untold success on the athletic playing field.
“I think we have one of the top athletic programs in the Pee Dee,” said Amell, who is in his fifth year at the school and his fourth as football coach. “Our athletes compete at a high level. We compete as teams with anyone. I think we’re still building and I think the future looks great for us as an athletic department.
“Numbers-wise, we’re staying steady. We lost some pretty good athletes but we actually return a lot of kids. Our girl’s sports are very good. In football we have a good bit of experience at some key positions. We had a lot of teams in the playoffs last year and I expect that will be the case this year as well.”
Amell mentioned the success of the basketball teams last winter. The girl’s basketball team reached the final eight of the state tournament and returns several starters this season. The boy’s basketball team also reached the final eight and lost only one starter.
In football, the Trojans were a playoff team once again and lost their quarterback and a few linemen. The baseball team should be solid again as well.
Amell feels the volleyball team will be competitive this fall under new head coach Eddie Huggins, a former coach at Byrnes School who has returned this season.
“He’s been coaching for a long time and his experience will certainly be a big addition to the volleyball program,” said Amell.
John Colby is set to return as the cross country coach this fall. Returning as the soccer coach is Rob Stroeble and Mitch Calhoun is the baseball coach.
Ben Kirkland will coach golf next spring and Amell is seeking to fill an opening in softball. Heading up the varsity cheerleaders is Kelly Byrd and Brandi Winstead is the junior varsity cheerleading coach.
