Montgomery named Rock Hill’s head coach

By Barry ByersThe (Rock Hill) Herald

“I’m looking forward to this opportunity, but I never thought things would work out this way. I figured Jim and I would leave here together. But I have the opportunity to take over a program that is ready to defend the state title.” — JOE MONTGOMERY Rock Hill High School moved quickly in hiring a new football coach, promoting defensive coordinator Joe Montgomery to replace Jim Ringer on Tuesday.

Montgomery, 56, will also be Rock Hill’s athletic director.

Ringer retired last week after 22 seasons with the Bearcats and 35 years of coaching. Ringer hired Montgomery before the 2003 football season. He was head coach at Gaffney from 1991 to 2002. Rock Hill plays at Gaffney on Oct. 14.

The Bearcats are the defending Big 16 state champions and have won two of the past three titles.

“Jim Ringer put this position on a pedestal when he left,’’ Montgomery said. “The head football job at Rock Hill is one of the most elite jobs in South Carolina. We still have a position vacant, so we have to find a person to take over my job as the defensive coordinator.

“I’m looking forward to this opportunity, but I never thought things would work out this way. I figured Jim and I would leave here together, or that I would take a head coach job someplace else. But I have the opportunity to take over a program that is ready to defend the state title. We’ve got to find some new kids to replace the great ones that graduated. We lost eight on offense and eight on defense.’’

Montgomery was promoted to athletics director when contracts were issued in April — replacing Ringer — and was told he could coach one more season as an assistant.

There was speculation that Rock Hill would have a separate football coach and a non-coaching athletics director when Ringer retired, to get in line with Northwestern and the new high school in town, South Pointe.

South Pointe went with that plan from the beginning and hired for separate positions. Northwestern separated the jobs in January when Jimmy Wallace stepped down after coaching for 18 years, but stayed as AD.

Rock Hill principal Niles Chumley said that Montgomery was not hired on an interim basis and no plans exist to split the jobs at this time. He would not comment on what might happen when contracts are issued next year.

“Most of us in education have a contract for one year,’’ Chumley said. “At this time, Joe’s going to be the person for both jobs. We look forward to a smooth transition and a great school year with Joe leading the athletic program and coaching our football team.’’

Ringer had signed a contract to stay as football coach at least one more season but was demoted to assistant athletics director. He decided to retire, saying his job duties for the coming year had not been fully explained to him by Chumley. He was in his final year of the state’s TERI retirement plan, which allows a state employee to retire and stay five more years.

When asked why Montgomery would be allowed to hold both jobs instead of Ringer, Chumley said, “I have no comment on that.”

“Joe will be here on a daily basis to take care of all sports and run the athletic program. He has the capability of doing both jobs well. I don’t know of anyone that would be a better choice for this decision (football coach) than Joe Montgomery. I didn’t even want to open the job up for interviews.’’

Montgomery will be paid $79,130 a year. Ringer’s salary was $86,126.04.

Montgomery has been the Bearcats’ defensive coordinator the past two seasons. The 2004 defense was one of the best in the state. In the state championship game, Rock Hill held Stratford to 90 total yards, had five sacks, three interceptions and two fumble recoveries in a 217 victory.

After coming to Gaffney from Oviedo (Fla.) High School, where he was head coach for six of his 10 seasons, Montgomery led the Indians to the Big 16 state championship in 1992 and again in 1997. Gaffney was state runner-up in 1993 and 1998. He had a 108-56 record at Gaffney.

Montgomery’s Gaffney teams were known for their wide-open offensive attack. Under Ringer, the Bearcats were run-oriented and used the pass as an element of surprise.

Look for the offense to change under Montgomery.

“I’ll talk with my coaches, and we’ll determine what’s best for the team,’’ Montgomery said. “In 1993 at Gaffney, we were a running team and were averaging 42 points a game. Then we got to the state championship and couldn’t score ... lost 2-0 to Northwestern.

“Most of the years I was there, we threw the ball. That’s always been my style. We’re returning our quarterback, Ben Poore, who has been to several quarterback camps. We have tall receivers who can catch the ball. And we have some good running backs returning in Bryant Venable and David Erby. We might end up doing a lot of everything on offense.’’

Poore stopped by the school Tuesday and met with Montgomery. According to Poore, they talked about the passing game.

“I think it was an awesome decision to hire coach Montgomery,’’ said Poore, a 6-foot-2 senior. “We have all the talent we need at wide receiver, and we will be able to run the spread offense if that’s what the coaches want to do. We also have some really good running backs.

“Coach Ringer will be missed, but coach Montgomery was the best person they could hire to replace him. We have a good team coming back, and I think he can get us to the state championship again.’’