Longtime Manning assistant Patrick Fleming new football head coach at Scott's Branch
Fleming looking forward for 'chance to build it from ground up' after Eagles' 0-10 season
Summerton – Former Manning High School standout linebacker and longtime Monarchs assistant coach Patrick Fleming has been named the new football head coach at Scott’s Branch.
Fleming takes over for Randall State, who stepped down following the completion of the Eagles’ 0-10 2023 season.
Fleming, who had been an assistant coach at Manning since 2007, said this was the first time he had ever applied for a head coaching position. So why now and why Scott’s Branch?
“It was just a feeling I had, the kind you get being a former athlete,” Fleming said. “I just felt this was right for me. I get to take over a program that was 0-10, so I get a chance to build it from the ground up.”
Since Manning and Scott’s Branch are both part of Clarendon County School District, Fleming will still be working under Monarchs head coach Reggie Kennedy. Though they will be contemporaries on the sidelines, Kennedy will be Fleming’s boss since he is also the district athletic director.
While Kennedy is losing his defensive coordinator of the past three seasons, he believes Fleming is the right fit at Scott’s Branch.
“We had a panel of five people {on the selection committee), and we were all impressed,” Kennedy said. “He did an excellent job in the interview, and we just feel like he’s a good fit for what we need at Scott's Branch in the regular school setting as well. He’s already familiar with the community and that will help him with the day-to-day activities at the school.”
Fleming graduated from Manning in 1999 and was an All-State linebacker in his senior year. He signed with South Carolina out of high school and finished his playing career at Southwest Missouri State. He was hired by former Manning head coach Robbie Briggs as an assistant in ‘07.
Fleming is expected to start working at Scott’s Branch with the start of the second semester after the first of the year. He is looking forward to getting to work.
“I really just want to get in and evaluate the kids,” said Fleming, who called Briggs and Kennedy his mentors. “I want to get in and get to the weight room and see what we have to work with. The (offensive) scheme will come later with whatever we think is the best fit for our players.”
“He’s a hard worker and the kids love playing for him,” Kennedy said of Fleming. “Those are things that we’ll miss with him, but I think Scott’s Branch is a great starting place for him as a head coach.”
State, who was the head coach for two years, went 4-7 in his first season. He declined to comment on his resignation.
ALL-REGION PERFORMERS
Scott’s Branch had two football players and one volleyball player selected to the respective All-Region 5-Class A teams.
The football players named were running back/linebacker Nyren Bowman and offensive lineman Javary Watson. The volleyball player was Janiah Gibson.
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