‘I’ve had the best job for 40 years’: North Myrtle Beach athletic director to retire
Joe Quigley’s love for teaching has always been matched by his passion for athletics.
He was a coach through his first decade in education in New Jersey while teaching subjects including science, health and physical education, then coached three sports that encompassed the entire school year in 1990-91 at Nakina High (now South Columbus) in Columbus County, North Carolina.
But an unexpected seven-year break from coaching followed when he began a three-decade run at Horry County schools at Loris Elementary.
Quigley’s first wife, Debbie, died of a brain tumor in 1991, when the couple had three children ages 3 years, 16 months and one month. At that point, Quigley’s kids required every available minute. “Through the grace of God I survived,” he said.
He reunited his two vocational passions once he married his current wife Janet 23 years ago and the two had a combined household with five children, and he hasn’t slowed down since.
Quigley is about to take another break from school athletics in any official capacity, and this one appears to be permanent.
Quigley, 62, will retire on June 30 after 15 years as the athletics director at North Myrtle Beach High.
“I’ve had the best job for 40 years,” Quigley said. “I’ve been a teacher for 40 and coach and AD for 40, and I’ve never not wanted to go to work, and that’s pretty awesome. I love teaching and I love coaching.”
Quigley held a position teaching and coaching football and boys and girls basketball at North Myrtle Beach Middle School for seven years beginning in the late 1990s.
“My goal at one time was to be a varsity coach,” Quigley said. “. . . But I love coaching, I love practice. What a great way to coach at the seventh- and eighth-grade level. My aspirations kind of changed, and I just wanted to be involved with kids.”
His principal at the middle school, Mike Blanton, became principal at North Myrtle Beach High for a year when Milton Gore retired as AD, and Blanton hired Quigley.
“It’s a lot different now than it was when I came in, and there’s many reasons for that,” Quigley said.
Unprecedented success
Quigley has led the Chiefs programs to new heights.
The Chiefs have won state championships in volleyball and finished as state runners-up in wrestling and football during Quigley’s tenure. All of the school’s varsity teams have won at least one region title, and most have repeatedly qualified for the playoffs.
“We weren’t very good at a lot of things [in the late 2000s], but Joe was the right athletic director at the right time,” said Trevor Strawderman, former 10-year NMB High principal from 2008-19. “I think we were all put there together to transform that school not just academically but athletically. The better we got in athletics the better we got in academics. Joe was a big part of our success. It couldn’t have happened without him.”
This past fall, the football team reached the Class 4A state championship game, girls golf, volleyball, girls cross country and boys swimming all won region titles, girls swimming was second, and girls tennis finished third and would have been a playoff team in a normal year.
“This has been leading up for the past six or seven years where we’re to this point where we have consistency,” Quigley said. “My goal was we would be consistent and competitive in every program, and I believe we’re there. We’re competing for region championships, every team’s in the playoffs.”
NMB athletics have expanded under Quigley with the addition of boys and girls lacrosse and swimming programs, and facilities have been upgraded.
With financial support from both the school district and private donors, the school has improved its playing surfaces and weight room, and a synthetic track around the football field.
“Just look at our baseball facility,” Quigley noted. “You won’t find a better facility. It’s game-ready every day, 365 days a year.”
Quigley has been a leader in his profession and recognized by his peers. He was named the S.C. Athletics Director of the Year in 2016 and 2017 by the S.C. Athletic Coaches Association and S.C. Athletics Directors Association, respectively, and has been a member of the SC High School League Executive Board and Committee and president of the S.C. Athletics Administrators Association.
“People could disagree with his decisions but he was so respected as a person that they rarely ever questioned him,” Strawderman said. “. . . Joe was never in it for credit for Joe. He has strong faith and he loves the kids and loves North Myrtle Beach High School.”
Building sustainable programs
While he receives much of the credit from those he has worked with, Quigley credits Strawderman’s support and commitment to athletics, community support through the athletics booster club, and top-notch coaches who hold players accountable.
Quigley said the booster club had just six members when he arrived. But led by current president Timmy Vereen, the booster club is now a major force that funds 80 percent of the school’s athletic uniforms and equipment.
“The community started getting involved,” Quigley said. “I’ve always said the stronger the booster club the better the athletic programs, and that was evident at North Myrtle Beach. As our booster club got stronger our programs got stronger.”
Quigley and other administrators created an athletics handbook for discipline that laid out expectations and consequences. “It was punitive at times, but it made a difference in raising the expectations,” Strawderman said. “I think we helped the kids and changed the culture faster by having high expectations.”
Quigley said the increased discipline within athletic programs began with the hiring in 2010 of football coach Perry Woolbright, who dismissed more than a dozen upperclassmen from his initial team for a lack of commitment, and went winless for two seasons.
But that established the standard in the program and it improved from there. The football team has made the playoffs for nine straight seasons, culminating in the Class 4A state championship berth in December.
“That’s because of the culture change, which carried over to every other sport,” Quigley said. “Our athletic program improved and improved the whole spirit of the school, and I credit Trevor Strawderman because not only did we hold them accountable in sports, we held them accountable in the classroom.”
Quigley has held himself accountable to hire good coaches, and he believes he has.
“The coaching pieces was the biggest thing. I don’t have a weak coach in the program. I would put our coaches up against anyone,” Quigley said.
Quigley cites in particular the congruity between the programs of football coach Matt Reel, basketball coach Ryan Walker and baseball coach Brian Alderson.
“They all believe the same thing, the philosophy is the same,” Quigley said. “So when a kid goes from football to basketball it’s the same rules, from basketball to baseball it’s the same rules, and the coaches push the kids to play for other teams.”
As an example of the continuity between the programs, starting football quarterback Cam Freeman and middle linebacker Billy Barlow are the baseball team’s best pitchers and are committed to play baseball at Georgia Tech and Clemson, respectively.
Quigley said coaches generally require players to get good grades, be on time, not miss practices and work hard.
“I like to win more than anyone. But how are we developing the total kid, the total person?” Quigley said. “If these kids develop into good young men and women after school, after college, then we’ve been a part of that and that’s what my goal is. But to do that you have to hold them accountable and that’s what our coaches were able to do.”
In the last three years, more than 80 percent of senior athletes received athletic or academic scholarships to attend college because they all held their grade-point averages above 3.5, Quigley said. “It’s a great group of people working together for the goal of making our kids the best kids they can be, who will be productive after all this is said and done,” he said.
Life after being an educator
Quigley and Janet, who is a special education itinerant teacher for Horry County Schools, have four grandchildren and a fifth due in February.
Quigley will remain in the area and be an active member of the community. “I’ve told coaches I’m great at cutting grass and lining fields if you need me,” said Quigley, whose son Ryan was a punter in the NFL for five seasons from 2013-17, including three with the New York Jets.
Principal Teresa Todd has said she hopes to have someone in place before Quigley’s departure.
“One of the reasons I retired too was I’ve been doing this 40 years, and I think when they bring the new person it that will provide another jump of energy,” Quigley said. “. . . There are new pieces the new person will bring in that will bring that excitement. The job is attractive. They’re coming in with great coaches, great athletes, great records and a great community.
“. . . It’s just the place to be.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 12:45 PM.
