Kingstree – James Price, the girls basketball head coach at Kingstree High School, has been
named the school's athletic director following the resignation of Barry McFadden.
McFadden, who was named the athletic director and boys basketball head coach last year
when Kingstree added the C.E. Murray student body following its closure, is no longer associated
with the Kingstree High athletic department. He had stepped down as the boys coach and was
replaced by former Coastal Carolina University standout Tony Dunkin.
Price will remain as the girls coach as well as an assistant football coach for head coach
Brian Smith. The Lady Blazers went 16-7 last season and reached the third round of the AA
state playoffs.
Dunkin was working as a behavioral interventionist with Williamsburg County School District
in October of 2022. While perusing the district website one day and looking at job openings, he
saw that the boys job was open. Dunkin couldn’t resist looking into it.
"It isn't going to hurt to look, but you don’t really expect anybody to call you back,” Dunkin said.
“They called me into an interview. I met some really good people, I fell in love with the people. They
offered me the job, which I accepted. But I did not expect to be a coach this coming year.
“I thought really long and hard about it, talked to my wife and kids about it. They told me to go
for it. That's what happened. I don't know it’s a fairy tale, but it's the truth.”
If Dunkin’s name sounds familiar to you, there’s a reason: he’s the greatest basketball player in
the history of Coastal Carolina and arguably the Big South Conference for that matter.
Dunkin is the only player in NCAA Division I history to be named his conference’s Player of
the Year four times, from the 1989-90 season to ’92-93. He is still the Chanticleers’ career scoring leader
with 2,151 points, averaging 20.7 points a game. CCU went 81-43 during that time, making the NCAA
Tournament twice.
Dunkin is a member of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, the Big South Conference
Hall of Fame and the Coastal Carolina University Athletic Hall of Fame.
The 6-foot-7-inch Dunkin, who is 53 years old, said he hadn’t shared much about his playing
career with his new players. However, one day a player who had googled Dunkin’s name brought
it up to him.
“He said, ‘Coach, you're a big deal,’ ” Dunkin said. “I just emphasized to him he could do the
same thing, do even better than me.”
Dunkin, who was the head coach for two seasons at his alma mater, Terrell’s Bay, said he doesn’t
have a particular style of play that he follows.
“You’ve got to look at the players and use what you’ve got to work with and play the style that
suits them,” he said. “I’ve been able to see little pieces of what I have, but a lot of my guys are playing
football. I can absolutely play up-tempo, but I can also play more of a controlled type of game, play
defense and wear the other team down.”
Dunkin remembers what his high school coach, the legendary Taft Watson, used to tell him.
“Coach Watson would say, ‘If you got horses, you got to let those horses run. But if you’ve got
donkeys and mules, you’ve got to slow it down and work your offense. Whatever you have out there, is
what you do.”
Dunkin isn’t the only new head coach on the Kingstree staff. Leonard Montgomery is the
Blazers’ new baseball coach.
Montgomery was the head coach at C.E. Murray in its final year of existence in 2022. He led the War
Eagles to a school record 11 wins as they reached the championship round of their district
tournament in the Class A playoffs. Montgomery replaces Price, who took the job out of necessity
last season.
Smith led the football team to a 5-6 record in his first year at Kingstree. Ameisha Owens returns as
the volleyball head coach and is sharing the softball job with Angie Owens. Christi English is the
girls track and field coach, while Avery Cooper is in charge of the boys.
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