THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406110086
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 31 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAN COOLEY, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: Medium
Carl Stone, the Hornets head baseball coach, has been named athletic director to replace Jim Garrett, who resigned.
{REST} Scott Hughes has been named the new baseball coach. Hughes, 31, was the Deep Creek junior varsity baseball coach the past four years, the same length of time Stone was the Deep Creek head coach. Before that, Stone was Granby's head coach from 1984-88.
Stone says Hughes is the right choice to fill his slot.
``I recommended him highly,'' Stone said. ``Once he gets his feet wet, I believe he will develop into one of the finer coaches in the area. He's already earned a great deal of respect from other area coaches because of his knowledge of the game.''
Part of that knowledge comes from running numerous summer camps each year. Hughes first met Stone at one of the summer camps.
Giving Hughes some assistance at the camps last year was Scott Bigbie. Bigbie, 25, will be taking Hughes' place at the junior varsity level. He was an assistant varsity coach for one year at Camden High School (N.C.), before becoming a volunteer assistant baseball coach at Deep Creek this past year. He has taught health and physical education at Deep Creek Middle School the past two years.
Bigbie played baseball at Camden High School and Elizabeth City State University, graduating in 1991. He also toured with Athletes in Action in the summer of 1991.
``I think (Hughes and Bigbie) will work well together and will do a good job,'' said Stone. ``Down the line, I think Bigbie will also be a good head coach.''
Aside from a six month graduate assistant position at Old Dominion, the junior varsity was Hughes' first coaching experience. His playing experience includes playing third base and pitching at Kellam, where he graduated in 1980. He excelled as a pitcher during his four years at ODU and was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 1985. His pro career, though, was never able to get off the ground. Hughes injured his pitching shoulder the first year and then reinjured it the following year, forcing him to give up pro baseball.
Hughes worked for a mortgage loan company for four years and then decided to get into coaching. He started out getting involved with summer camps and enrolled at Norfolk State to be certified to teach and ultimately, coach.
After receiving certification in 1990, Hughes began as a substitute teacher for the city of Chesapeake. At that point, Stone, the new Deep Creek head coach, knew Hughes was interested in coaching and recommended him for the junior varsity slot.
Now four years later, Hughes has the head coaching slot. Stone said Hughes' job is made much easier because of the positive environment he will be working in at Deep Creek.
``We've got excellent rapport with all the coaches and everybody is working well together,'' said Stone. ``The cohesiveness with athletics has a lot to do with Garrett and the administration, especially (principal) Nat Hardy.
``Mr. Hardy understands athletics and is very supportive of the kids. He gives good leadership and hires good people. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to have a principal like that.''
Hughes said his coaching philosophy is very similar to Stone's, so there won't be much change in how the team will run.
``At the high school level, you have to mold the system around the players you have,'' he said. ``(Then), you have to teach them the way we believe the game should be played, including teaching them fundamentals and proper technique.''
by CNB