May River taps into Bluffton for 2 of 3 new coaching hires

For all the résumés that have flowed in seeking to become part of the first athletics staff at May River High School, athletic director Brett Macy didn’t have to go far to find two of his first hires.

Boys’ basketball coach Matt Whitmore and baseball coach Keith Stewart will join Macy in coming over from Bluffton High, where they had been assistants for multiple years. They were formally announced Thursday along with new wrestling coach Ashley Powell, coming from Westwood High outside Columbia.

Powell becomes the second coach plucked from the Westwood staff, as football coach Rodney Summers was hired away from the 3-year-old Blythewood school last month.

“Familiarity was important,” Macy said, “but overall they all had really good plans for their respective sports. Not only building (the program) up, but once we get it going into the future.”

Beaufort County’s newest high school will open in August, competing in Region 8-AAA. At least a dozen other hires still must be made to fill out the Sharks’ inaugural list of head coaches.

Whitmore served directly under Macy for six seasons at Bluffton, first as junior varsity coach before joining the varsity staff a year later. He was part of six consecutive playoff appearances, including a region title in 2012.

The Sharks will be Whitmore’s first head coaching job after 14 years at three programs, including two in his native Ohio. He never had a losing season in five years as Bluffton’s JV coach, compiling a 50-32 record.

“He actually has more experience than I had when I got the Bluffton job,” said Macy, who had eight years when he took over the Bobcats. “Again, it came down to the fact that he had a really good plan in place.”

Stewart spent four years as Manning’s baseball coach, including a region title in 2013 when he also was named region coach of the year. The next season he was in a Bluffton uniform, joining Bryant Kitty’s staff after moving to the Lowcountry to allow his wife to accept a career promotion.

“That was a very difficult spot for me to leave,” said Stewart, a Manning native. “We were doing very well, had a lot of success in the final year I was there. But circumstances came up and my wife was given the opportunity to move up in her career.”

Powell moves south after guiding Westwood to Class 4-A region titles and the Upper State semifinals each of the past two seasons. He has produced five All-State wrestlers since 2014, including this year’s Class 4-A Wrestler of the Year in Evan Carrigan.

As with Summers, Powell has experience getting a program off the ground at a new school. Before the past two region titles, the Redhawks’ made the state playoffs in their first year.

He comes to a locale already strong in wrestling, with Hilton Head Island and Beaufort winning Class 3-A Lower State titles in the past two years and Battery Creek taking it all in Class 2-A two seasons ago. This year, seven Lowcountry wrestlers won individual state titles and two more finished runner-up.

“He brings with him a knowledge of how to build a program and how to create an atmosphere of success,” Macy said. “We look forward to great heights within our wrestling program.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 10:05 AM with the headline "May River taps into Bluffton for 2 of 3 new coaching hires."