Florence 1 high schools return majority of head coaches

Florence – The run of Florence 1 Schools high schools South Florence, West Florence and

Wilson being members of the same region are over – at least for the next two years – with the South

Carolina High School League’s reclassification and realignment.

West Florence got caught up in the expansion of the AAAAA classification to 55 schools while

South Florence and Wilson remained in AAAA. That means the days of them being a part of Region 6-

AAAA are over.

West Florence will be part of Region 5-AAAAA with Blythewood, Lugoff-Elgin, Ridge View,

Spring Valley, Sumter and Westwood. South Florence and Wilson will be members of Region 5-AAAA

with Crestwood, Darlington, Hartsville, Lakewood and Lower Richland.

South Florence has only one new varsity head coach at this moment. West Florence will have two

new head coaches, and Wilson easily has the most turnover with five new head coaches, two of them in

major sports.

SOUTH FLORENCE

Cody Slaughter returns as the athletic director at South Florence. The only new head coach will

be Herbert Hunter as the boys basketball coach, replacing Dominique Harris.

Drew Marlowe is back as the head football coach. The Bruins went 14-1 last season, losing to

Westside 34-32 in the AAAA state championship game. That meant the Bruins just missed on running off

two consecutive perfect seasons.

Bobby Jones will return as the softball coach after taking the Lady Bruins to the lower state

championship series. Veteran Kenny Gray will again be in charge of the baseball program.

Alexis Morris will coach both the boys and girls cross country teams, Kim

Osborne is the girls tennis coach, Talor Hewitt the girls volleyball coach, Demetric Russell the boys

volleyball coach, Trent Clary will be both the girls and boys golf coach, Marcus Montgomery the boys

wrestling coach, Josh Williams the girls wrestling coach, Kailey Varney the girls soccer coach and

Caitlyn Welch the cheer coach.

Jan Chatlosh returns as the boys and girls swim coach, and she does the same for both South

Florence and Wilson.

Spots that are still open are for boys tennis, boys and girls track and field and boys soccer.

WEST FLORENCE

Greg Johnson returns as the athletic director. The two new head coaches are Dominique

Muldrow for boys basketball and Chris Dale for girls golf.

Jody Jenerette returns as football coach, and Aundres Perkins returns after leading the softball

team to the AAAA state championship series against Catawba Ridge.

Kedral Timmons will be the girls hoops coach, while Warren Coker is back as both the boys

volleyball coach and the boy tennis. coach. L.A. Driggers returns as the girls volleyball coach.

Josh Brown will be the baseball coach, Billy Andrews will be the boys soccer coach, Alex

Shortall the girls soccer coach, Phillip Barr the boys track and field coach, Rich Wideman both the

girls track coach and the boys and girls cross country coach, Andrew Cummings the wrestling coach,

Jason Brewer the boys golf coach, Abby Sullivan the girls tennis coach and Kelsey Cagle the cheer

coach.

WILSON

Derrick McQueen returns as the Wilson athletic director, and he has been a busy man. He

brought back former Wilson head coach Darryl Page to again run the football team. Yusuf English is the new boys basketball head coach, replacing Carlos Powell, who left to become the head coach at Gray Collegiate Academy.

          The other new head coaches are Aquanze Bethea as the boys track and field head coach, Rayvon Rogers as the boys volleyball head coach and Cristy Rabon as the head coach of the bass fishing team.

Frank Williams will be the girls basketball coach, James “Chippa” Smith will be back as the

baseball coach, Robert Sloan will be the girls soccer coach, Brittany Sehnke will be the softball coach, John Davis the girls volleyball coach, Valarie Paul will be the girls track and field coach after doing the boys last year as well, Jackie Foxe Jr. will be the boys and girls cross country coach, Nicholas Yock will be both the boys and girls golf coach, Frederick Davis will be the head coach of both the boys and girls tennis teams, Ernest Barksdale will be the wrestling coach and

Kacie Mangler will be the competitive cheer coach.

McQueen is still looking for a boys soccer coach.