HobbsDailyReport.com
NEWTON – Newton-Conover High returned the reins to its varsity girls’ basketball program to Sylvia White for a third time on Monday.
White, director of human resources for the Newton-Conover City Schools, is replacing former WNBA star Andrea Stinson as the Red Devils’ head coach next season, the school system announced in a press release.
WHITE
This will be White’s third stint as Newton-Conover’s girls’ head coach, as she guided the Red Devils for four seasons in a tenure that ended after the 1991-92 season and later for another four seasons that ended in 2003-04.
The press release did not clarify the status of Stinson as a teacher or coach at Newton-Conover, where she guided the Red Devils to a 78-56 record over five seasons. That included five postseason bids, including last season when Newton-Conover went 9-5 in the South Fork 2A (third-place tie) and 17-11 overall.
Stinson — a college All-American at N.C. State after a sterling prep career at North Mecklenburg — previously coached two seasons of girls’ varsity basketball at Central Cabarrus.
“I’m very excited to be named in this position,” White said in the press release. “Newton-Conover has a long history in women’s basketball, and I’m just excited to be a part of it again.”
She has a 33-year career in athletics, and her experience includes as an assistant coach, district and school-wide athletic directorships and 11 years with Red Devils girls’ basketball (eight as head coach, three as assistant coach).
White also coached women’s basketball at Mars Hill College from 1992 through 1998, and is excited to return to the sport.
“Personally, you know, you have to make decisions in your life professionally that sometimes makes you make a choice, and when I became a principal, the state says the only position you can’t hold and coach in is a principal,” White said in the press release. “So the last time I moved away that was the reason — in that tenure that could not be the case. So I’m excited to be in the position now where the opportunity has been presented where I can return to something I love very much.”
White began coaching in 1985 while enrolled in graduate school at Appalachian State. Her first season was as the assistant-turned-head coach of the Mountaineers’ softball team. She eventually earned a Master of Arts Degree in Physical Education with a concentration in athletic administration.
After graduating, White left Boone to become Dropout Prevention and Career Development Counselor (1985-88) and assistant girls’ basketball coach (1986-88) at Newton-Conover. She was an assistant coach on Jerry Willard’s staff and also a school athletic trainer from 1986-91.
When Willard left coaching after the 1987-88 season and after back-to-back West 2A Regional runners-up finishes, White was named the Red Devils’ head coach.
After a 20-win season in her first year, White coached the Red Devils to a 27-4 record that included a West 2A Regional title and 58-52 loss to Clinton in the state 2A championship game.
The fourth and final team during White’s first tenure (1991-92) won a West 2A Regional title and then beat Farmville Central 77-54 for a state 2A title.
White did not return the next season, when Lu Ann Underhill took over for the next eight seasons.
After the Red Devils went 15-10 in Underhill’s final season (1999-2000) and missed the state playoffs for a third straight season, White came back to coach them again.
Newton-Conover went 0-20 in 2000-01 and 6-18 the next year. By the third year, White had the Red Devils back in the West 2A Regionals as they went 17-12 and lost in the first round there to Salisbury. Her final team, in 2003-04, went 19-10.
White’s overall record at Newton-Conover is 145-72 in eight seasons, which includes going 83-33 in conference games (58-4 in league games in her first tenure).
She was an assistant principal at Newton-Conover from 2001-03.
“We’re going to build on the tradition,” White said in the press release. “I met with the team briefly and we have two goals. The first is to become a team, and that means that we learn what being a team means and we all play the role of one team.
“The second is that we all work to get better every day in everything we do — in the classroom, as a person, and then on the basketball court. At this point, those are our goals.
“As we get to know each other more and get into the season we will set goals that are more measurable. But those are the two things that are going to help us be successful in what we do both on the court and off the court.”
White has served as the NCCS’ director of human resources since 2007. The press release did not specify if she will continue in that position as she returns to coaching.