Lots of turnover on Silver Bluff coaching staff

Aiken – Some years can be quite docile when it comes to turnover for a high school coaching

staff.

Then you can have a year like Silver Bluff High School is having heading into the 2024-25

school year.

Silver Bluff will have a new athletic director, football head coach, girls basketball head coach,

baseball head coach and volleyball head coach.

Shelby Strother is the new athletic director, replacing Keith Radford, who retired. Strother was

the assistant athletic director at Beaufort High School.

Strother said Silver Bluff is a logical next step for him.

“I saw Silver Bluff as a great opportunity for me to continue to grow as an athletic administrator,”

Strother said. “The school has a very rich athletic history, and I am very excited about seeing how I can

continue to help the program thrive.”

Matt Hayes, a Silver Bluff graduate, is the new football coach. He takes over for De’Angelo

Bryant, who left after six seasons to become the head coach at Gray Collegiate Academy.

           Hayes was the associate head coach and special teams coordinator at Strom Thurmond the past two seasons. Prior to that, he was the defensive coordinator at South Aiken for five years. Hayes started his coaching career at Silver Bluff, working for his high school head coach, Al Lown.

Hayes has just one newcomer to Silver Bluff on his staff. That would be offensive coordinator

and quarterbacks coach Jordan Clark. He comes to Silver Bluff from Grovetown High in Georgia.

David Marshall will be the associate head coach and will coach wide receivers. The defensive

coordinator will be Gyasi Yeldell, a former standout player for Silver Bluff who played collegiately at

Presbyterian College. He will coach the defensive line.

Carneal Hall will coach the offensive line, handle strength and conditioning and serve as the

junior varsity head coach as well. Deon Williamson will coach the defensive backs and safeties.

Mark Hamilton will be in his first year on the varsity and on defense as well, coaching the

defensive backs and cornerbacks. He was a wide receivers coach for the junior varsity last season.

Cheeno Green is back as the running backs coach.

CaraLynn Williams is the new girls basketball head coach. She is replacing Chasen Redd, who

stepped down after five seasons in which Silver Bluff went 82-21 and played for the 2021 AA state title.

Williams was the head coach at South Aiken for three years and had been an assistant coach at

North Augusta for the past six seasons. Williams was at South Aiken from 2016 through 2018, posting a

22-42 record. Her best season was the second one when the Thoroughbreds went 11-11 and reached the state playoffs. They did the same the following year as well.

Michael Baker is the new baseball head coach, taking over for Williamson, who stepped down

after three seasons.

Shauna Barefield returns for her fifth season as the girls track and field head coach and is taking

over the volleyball program as well. William Griswold, who has over 25 years of coaching experience,

will return as the boys track and field head coach.

Michael Prandy returns for his second season as the boys basketball head coach, Lashanteau

Green is the cheer coach, Patrick Casper is the boys soccer coach and Strother will be the boys golf

coach.