Familiar face picked to lead May River High football program
May River didn’t go outside of the program to name its new football coach.
May River offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Richard Bonneville was named the new Sharks coach, the school announced on Monday. He is the second coach in the Bluffton high school’s history.
Bonneville replaces Rodney Summers, who stepped down in November.
“WE HAVE OUR GUY!” May River football’s Twitter account posted on Monday afternoon.
Bonneville has more than 20 years of coaching experience with stops at Camden, Westwood and Richland Northeast.
Bonneville comes from a coaching family. His father was a long-time assistant at Spring Valley in Columbia before getting the head coaching job. He played for his dad, and now he will be able to coach his son, who is a member of the May River team.
Bonneville was at Westwood and came to May River with Summers in 2016 when the program began, and he was part of the Sharks’ success.
“When Rodney told me he was resigning, it was a scary feeling, because we have been together for a long time,” Bonneville said. “But May River has become my home and is an awesome place. It means a lot to be the head coach here.
“It is going to be hard following Coach Summers. But I have learned from head coaches Jimmy Neal, Jay Frye and Rodney. But I also want to put my own twist on things.”
After a pair of two-win seasons to start, May River went 10-0 in the 2018 regular season, won its first region title and advanced to the third round of the 3A playoffs before losing to Dillon. May River made it to the Lower State championship the following season before losing to Dillon again. The Sharks moved up to Class 4A in 2020, going 4-2 in the COVID-shortened year, and then the team won eight games in 2021.
May River went 5-6 this season and lost to Myrtle Beach 24-21 on a last-minute touchdown in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The school also announced Tom Dyer was promoted to offensive coordinator, and Jeremy Dyer will be defensive coordinator.
Bonneville said he would like to keep the core of coaches intact.
“We will need to pick some guys up, but the core group of guys will still be here,” Bonneville said.
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This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 4:44 PM.
