Darlington adds new coaches to staff
By David Shelton
Staff Writer
Darlington – Darlington High athletic director Rick Drawdy has been fairly busy this summer as he works to fill out the 2010-11 coaching roster.
Drawdy reports that the coaching staff will have a few new faces this fall but most of the sports are returning their head coaches for the coming year.
“It’s not as easy to hire coaches these days, not with the economic and budget restrictions,” said Drawdy earlier this summer. “Bringing in new coaches is tough. Schools are losing teaching positions and we still need people to coach our teams. Every school is in the same boat.”
Drawdy announced the hiring of a new volleyball coach as Jessica Destefano will take over this fall.
Taking over the girl’s tennis team this fall will be Spencer Tyner.
Stanley Goodwin will take over the direction of the boy’s golf team and Heidi Mehlman will be the school’s new athletic trainer.
Justin Danner will return as the head football coach this fall. He also returns his football staff intact for the upcoming season.
The varsity assistant coaches this season will be Eddie Shuler, Lester Davis, Charlie Poole, Fred Gambrell, Donald Poole and Dennis Gearhart.
Gearhart is the head junior varsity coach and is assisted on that team by Terrence Carraway and John Davis.
In the other varsity sports, Mike Rogers will return as the head baseball coach. Ken Howle will return to coach boy’s basketball in the winter and the boy’s tennis team in the spring.
The cross country teams in the fall will be coached by Rich Wideman and Jimmy Wright will be back this winter to coach the wrestling team.
Charlie Poole coaches the boy’s track team in the spring while Jesse Barber coaches the girl’s track team. Returning as the softball coach next spring will be Tim Wiley.
