Saluda football coach Young has two new coordinators

           Saluda – There is only one change among the varsity head coaches for Saluda High School, but football head coach Stewart Young will be breaking in two new coordinators this season.

Daryl Smith will be the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator while Greg Woerner will be new the

offensive coordinator.

           "We’ve got the two new coordinators, but everything else is pretty much the same,” Young said in regards to his football staff. “What we do on offense is going to be different, but defensively we’re still going to be pretty much the same.”

Smith is a former head coach at Laurens High School. Woerner was an assistant coach at

Gilbert prior to coming to Saluda.

           Young believes his team has had a good summer as the beginning of the new season draws near.

“We feel good about things, thinking that we had a good summer,” said Young, who led the

Tigers to the 2019 AA state title. “We had a lot of people coming every day, averaging between 55 to 60. We have our whole defense line back, our quarterback, our running back. We’re inexperienced on the offensive line, but we feel like we have a chance to be really good.”

The only new head coach is Marianna Caldwell, who will take over the girls tennis program.

Athletic director and girls basketball head coach Jeannette Wilder likes the coaching staff she has

assembled over the years.

“I look forward to this school year,” said Wilder, herself a state championship-winning head

coach, winning the 2020 AA state title. “I have a veteran staff with several new additions that will

bring great knowledge and strength to the staff. We share common goals in work ethic and the desire to win.

           “But more importantly, everyone understands that the student-athletes are the most important component to our job. We must ensure that we provide a safe environment for them to grow and become successful as students and young adults beyond high school.”

Saluda is coming off a 17-4 season in which it reached the second round of the state playoffs.

Jimmy Kinard returns for his fourth season as the boys basketball coach. After going 18-6 in

2023, Saluda struggled to a 7-18 record last season.

Meredith Wertz returns as the volleyball head coach, Sam Shealy as the boys and girls cross

country coach as well as the boys and girls track and field coach, Travis Mills as the baseball coach, Hannah Towery as the softball coach, Tonya Chapman as the cheer coach and Reggie Phillips as the boys soccer coach.

           Towery coached the softball team to a 22-7 record, a region title, a district tournament title and a berth in the upper state tournament. Once there, Saluda won for the first time in an upper state tournament. The Tigers blanked Chesnee 4-0 in in their opening game before falling to eventual state champion Gray Collegiate Academy 12-1 and Strom Thurmond 5-1.

The Saluda baseball team finished the year with a 16-11 record and was second in the region.

Mills was the Region Coach of the Year.