By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
WEST CALDWELL’S HEAD GIRLS BASKETBALL COACHES
Coach First Year
Tate McGee 1977-78
Darrell Pennell 1978-79
Jack Hoke 1980-81
Harold Warren 1982-83
Karen Trivett 1983-84
Lynn Hicks 1995-96
Mike Edwards 1997-98
Neil Ramsey 1998-99
Karen Trivett 2001-02
Scott Greene 2004-05
Stephen McMasters 2007-08
Rikki Ogle 2011-12
Joshua Reeves 2014-15
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com
LENOIR – Brad Mangum, who coached three conference championship teams in five seasons as a varsity girls’ basketball head coach, is returning the high school level to guide West Caldwell’s girls.
Mangum, an assistant coach last season at Lenoir-Rhyne University, was previously the head girls’ coach at Alexander Central for three years after having the same position the two years before at Fred T. Foard. He was an assistant coach at South Caldwell for eight years (two boys, six girls) before going to Foard.
MANGUM
Mangum was directing the women’s basketball program at LRU after the school and head coach Kate Pate agreed on March 15 she would not return next season. The Bears hired Cameron Sealey, a former LRU player and Gastonia County native, as head coach on April 26.
At West Caldwell, Mangum replaces Joshua Reeves after three seasons. Mangum will be the school’s 14th girls’ varsity head coach since it opened in 1977-78 with Tate McGee at the helm (see below).
Reeves coached West Caldwell to a 25-43 record that included two trips to the state 2A playoffs. West Caldwell was 12-12 last season, including 7-7 in the Southern District 7 Athletic 2A (fifth place). The Warriors are moving back up to 3A beginning in August and will play in the Northwestern 3A-4A.
“To say that we are excited to add Coach Mangum to our staff would be an understatement,” West Caldwell athletic director Steve McMasters said in a new release on Wednesday. “We feel confident that we can reach another level in our women’s basketball program under his leadership.
“His record speaks for itself as we have been able to hire a proven winner. His experience at the college level will also help our kids that may be looking to play at the next level…”
Mangum’s prep teams are a collective 102-38. His Foard teams went 14-12 and 18-9, sharing a Northwestern 3A-4A title with Hickory and Alexander Central in 2012-13.
That offseason, Matt Taylor resigned at Alexander Central and the Cougars hired Mangum.
In Taylorsville, Mangum’s teams went 28-2, 19-8 and 23-7, won two North Piedmont 3A-4A titles (both 14-0 in the league) and reached the third round of the playoffs in 2013-14 before being eliminated by West Forsyth.
LRU had a 17-12 overall record last season, including a 13-9 record that left the Bears in sixth place in the 12-team South Atlantic Conference (SAC).