Pee Dee to return all of its varisty head coaches for the 2026-27 school year
Golden Eagles will remain in AA for football, AAA for other sports after SCISA reclassification
Mullins – After “major” shakeups in the varsity head coaching staff at Pee Dee Academy the past two school years, things are back to normal.
Pee Dee lost one head coach in both 2024-25 and 2025-26. As the start of the new school year draws near, the Golden Eagles will be returning all of their head coaches, according to assistant athletic director Jonathan King.
One of those returning coaches will be King himself over football. After leading Pee Dee to the 2022 AAA state championship and to the 2024 AA state title, he had it back in the AA title game last year.
King, who assists longtime athletic director Lon Spivey, has all of his football staff returning as well in Kyle Drew, Stump Spivey, Danny Barker, Dan Barker, Michael Martin, BJ Larymore and Hudson Spivey.
“We have had a very consistent coaching staff for years now,” King said. “In 2026, we return everybody from last year’s staff. I can’t praise them enough for the time and effort they put into our program to help us be successful.”
Will Eskridge will be returning as the head coach of the softball program, which has now won five consecutive SCISA state championships. The latest came with a sweep of Colleton Prep Academy in the best-of-3 AAA championship series as the Eagles finished the year with a 28-2 record. Pee Dee has played in nine straight championship series.
The baseball program just completed its first season under the guidance of Danny Barker. He led the Eagles to a 14-8-1 record as they reached the championship round of their bracket in the AAA state playoffs.
Drew will be back as the boys basketball head coach and Megan Thomas returns as the girls head coach. The Golden Eagles boys struggled last year with a 4-15 record after playing for the AAA state title the year before. The PDA girls went 11-11 after winning the AAA crown in 2025.
Lori Ann Rogers is back in charge of the volleyball program while Jim Carter is the girls tennis head coach. Drew will be the head coach of the boys golf team, Frank Drew is the boys soccer head coach, Reed Norris is the girls soccer coach, Jason Hulon is the sporting clays head coach, and Brian Lowe is the cheer coach.
Nothing has changed competitively for Pee Dee’s athletic program following SCISA’s bi-annual reclassification. Pee Dee will once again be competing at the AA level in football and in AAA in all other sports.
