Trojans will have 3 new head coaches

Bandys High’s roster of new head coaches for this year’s fall sports includes a former star athlete at Maiden.

The Trojans have named Randi (Pruitt) Keith to guide the varsity softball and volleyball teams, while Mark Simmons will take over boys’ varsity soccer.

Keith, 23, was an assistant coach in softball and volleyball last season at Bandys. She’s a UNC Pembroke graduate who played both sports at Maiden. She replaces Mike Carpenter in softball and Jessica Harvey in volleyball.

Simmons 44, is about to start his 10^th year on the Mill Creek Middle School faculty and takes over boys’ soccer at Bandys from Cliff Mayer. Mayer will continue to coach girls’ soccer for the Trojans.

The decision to move Keith into head-coaching roles involved following a Catawba County Schools (CCS) policy regarding non-faculty coaches. She will be in her second year as a physical education teacher at Bandys.

Adopted in March 2002 and revised in last November, the policy says:

>>>> Administrators seeking coaches need to first look in-house, then at potential candidates in a feeder school in a community or at other interested CCS employees who also teach in the system.

>>>> If those efforts are not fruitful, the school system’s superintendent must approve the hiring on a non-faculty coach.

Carpenter, a former star athlete at Bunker Hill, and Harvey were non-faculty coaches.

Harvey, the wife of relief pitcher Kris Harvey of the Florida Marlins’ Class AA Jacksonville (Fla.) Suns and a Bandys graduate, resigned to work in the private sector.

“The board has made it pretty clear over the last year or so that whenever it’s possible we need to look in-house,” Bandys principal Todd Black said. “Randi was able to work with the volleyball and softball players last year.

“Again, we’re trying to move as many coaching positions inside as possible and Randi played four years of softball at UNC Pembroke, so we feel good about Mike giving her the proper leadership last year to have her ready to coach this year.

“We greatly appreciated the hard work and dedication that Mike game the softball program over the time he spent here and we thank him for his years of service to Bandys.”

In seven seasons, the Trojans went 134-49 under Carpenter and won two league titles and three conference tournament titles. They won the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A title last season, going 13-1 in the league, and finished 20-6 after falling in the second round of the state 2A playoffs.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity,” Keith said of taking over next season. “We’ve been joking about me jumping in head first, but I’m excited about both opportunities.”

Having the experience of working with Carpenter and Harvey for one season helped Keith gain knowledge she’ll need in her new role, she said.

“Last year was perfect and I couldn’t have asked for a better situation,” she said. “Jessica had a lot of knowledge on volleyball. And being an assistant, I really got to watch her and how she handled situations without me having the pressure of being the head coach.

“(Carpenter) was simply fantastic to work with. He really taught me a lot and took time aside during games and everything to teach me things to help me get past that athlete point to a coach.”

Simmons is ready to coach prep soccer after nine seasons guiding the middle school team at Mill Creek, whose athletes play high school athletics at Bandys.

 “I very excited to go across the road to Bandys and try to help that program continue to grow and expand,” Simmons said. “I look forward to working with some of my former players that played for me in middle school and hopefully we will be competitive and have a good season.” 

Patton selects Reid as baseball head coach 

Patton has named Kurt Reid its new varsity baseball coach, replacing Brandon Scott.

Scott, a Morganton native whose four teams at Patton went 74-40 and played for the state 2A title two seasons ago, resigned to become athletic director and head baseball coach at Bessemer City.

Reid, 51, is a non-faculty coach. He was an assistant varsity coach under Scott last season and coached the Panthers junior varsity.

A Southern Illinois graduate, Reid has also been an assistant baseball coach at Freedom and head coach at Walter R. Johnson Middle School.

Since arriving in Burke County in 1984, he has also coached youth baseball in the county and the American Legion Junior team the past two seasons. 

The Morganton News Herald contributed to this story