Socastee, Loris go with out-of-state candidates to fill head football coaching vacancies
Two downtrodden Horry County football programs have selected their leading men, as Loris and Socastee’s coaches were approved by the Horry County School Board on Monday.
Taking over at Socastee High School is Ben Hampton, who comes to the coast from North Rowan High School in North Carolina, where he served as athletic director, football coach and taught physical education.
On the North Strand, Loris will move forward with William “Greg” Mance, the head coach at Richlands High School in Virginia since 1997. Mance is a highly successful coach, having won more than 200 games at Richlands in his 23 seasons to build a Blue Tornadoes program into a perennial playoff participant. Mance led Richlands to a 6-5 record last season and a playoff berth.
He replaces Jamie Snider, who led the Loris program for nine seasons and won 55 games. The Lions compiled a 1-9 record and did not make the Class 3A playoffs in 2019. Loris has suffered through five consecutive losing seasons under Snider.
Socastee, competing in the state’s largest classification of Class 5A, tabbed the 35-year old Hampton, a coach with ties to Horry County as a former Coastal Carolina University football player. Following his playing career from 2003-06 as a Chanticleer, Hampton moved into coaching, taking over at North Rowan in 2015. Following a 5-7 first season, Hampton and North Rowan have ripped off at least eight wins and a playoff berth in each season. Last season, the Cavilers compiled a 9-4 record, losing in the second round of the Class A (NC) playoffs.
Hampton’s tenure at Socastee begins after one season of an interim coach, Marty Jacobs, and six years of Doug Illing. During the past seven seasons, Socastee has managed a 31-44 record, winning just one contest last season.
The hiring of two out-of-state candidates to lead Horry County programs continues a trend that has produced successful seasons across the Grand Strand. In recent memory, six coaches of Horry County programs, including three current coaches, have come as out-of-state hires. Included in that list are Socastee’s Illing, two coaches at North Myrtle Beach and St. James, and former Green Sea Floyds coach Donnie Kiefer. Kiefer’s run with the Trojans culminated in two Class A state championships, though his post is currently open as he elected to move on to coach at West Ashley High School in the Charleston area.
With the two hires, only the Green Sea Floyds opening remains for Horry County football coaches.