Grovetown fills coaching needs

Grovetown High School moved closer to filling out its athletic staff after the Columbia County Board of Education approved three more coaches Tuesday.

Greenbrier assistant baseball coach Mike Jones will coach the Warriors baseball team, while boys basketball coach Casey Dees has been hired to the same position. Harlem girls basketball coach Amy Slagle will coach the volleyball team.

Grovetown administrators are awaiting the approval of two more coaches from outside the county.

Richmond Academy athletic director Jamie Echols will coach the girls basketball team and will be an assistant on Rodney Holder's football staff. Former Greenbrier softball player Katie Sutherland will coach softball.

Both should be approved following spring break.

"I'm getting excited," Grove-town athletic director Todd Booker said. "Everything's coming together."

Echols spent 15 years at Richmond Academy, serving as both a coach and athletic director.

Echols said Holder contacted him in January wanting to know if he'd be interested in joining Holder's football staff.

"I said 'sure,' not thinking a whole lot would come out of it," Echols said. "Because even then he didn't know if they would have any spots."

Jones assisted Ed Williams during Greenbrier's state title run in 2006. After a year in North Augusta, he returned to coach under Rodney Holder and under Chris Wilkins this year.

"You never know how quick it's going to happen," Jones said of becoming a head coach. "The Lord opens doors and he closes them. This was definitely a door that was open."

Dees, intrigued by the opportunity to build a program, said he already has 20 region games scheduled for next season.

"It's a great opportunity for everybody, I think," Dees said. "Hopefully we can build a successful program over there."

Of the board approvals from Columbia County, Slagle was the only to have been displaced. But she said she liked the way her situation worked out.

Slagle only had to ask and the Grovetown volleyball position was hers.

"That's just my passion," she said.

Reach Stephen Fastenau at (706) 863-6165 ext. 116 or stephen.fastenau@augustachronicle.com.