Estill – The Patrick Henry Academy athletic department will have a noticeably different look
for the 2023-24 school year.
Mike McCoy and Belinda McCoy, the husband/wife duo who had been at the school for well
over two decades, are now working at Colleton Prep in Walterboro. Mike, who had been at PHA for 26
years, was the school’s athletic director. Belinda, who had been at the school for over 20 years, was the
head coach for both girls basketball and volleyball. She led the Lady Patriots to the SCISA AA state
championship last season. Belinda is Colleton Prep’s new girls hoops coach.
Justin Scott was recently hired as Patrick Henry’s athletic director. Scott has no past affiliation
with the school. He has spent the past eight years as a teacher at Woodland High School in Dorchester.
He was the boys soccer head coach for the past six years and assisted with football the past few seasons.
“I kind of set my sights on being an AD in the last few years,” said Scott, who got his MDA in
finance from The Citadel. “I realized this is what I wanted to do.”
.Scott said he saw the job opening posted on the SCISA website and applied. He had a couple of
interviews and was offered the job.
“I lucked out and I get a chance to go do something great,” said Scott, who officially started the job on
August 1.
While he’s never been an athletic director before, he was in charge of the Woodland soccer
program.
“Managing the soccer program set me on the path to being an AD,” he said. “I was handling the
booking, the budgeting, the ordering. I was managing three teams.”
Scott said he isn’t sure what roles he’ll be playing as far as coaching goes. He inherits a varsity head coaching staff that is already in place.
Mackenzie Goins and AC Creech will be replacing Belinda McCoy. Goins will be in charge of
the volleyball program while Creech will be the girls basketball coach.
Wayne Brown will be back as the baseball coach after leading the Patriots to the AA state
championship. Joe Gray Peeples is returning for his second year in charge of the football program.
Peeples was hired last summer and led the Patriots to a 6-4 record as the team transitioned from 8-man to
11-man Class A.
Claude Terry is returning as the boys basketball coach, Barry Whittington is back as the girls
soccer coach, while Mike Mathis returns as the boys soccer coach. Anna Priester returns as the softball
coach, while Scott Rhodes will be the sporting clays coach and Whittington and Kelly Wall will handle
the cross country duties.
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