Tradition will guide new coach
His father led Greenbrier baseball to championships
While the Greenbrier baseball team continues an already memorable season, the Wolfpack are playing under the direction of head coach Ed Williams for the final time.
Greenbrier Principal Marjorie Hamilton recently announced the promotion of Williams to assistant principal starting with the 2006-07 school year. While the new position comes with plenty of responsibility, a school policy prohibits Williams from coaching at the same time.
Less than two weeks after the announcement, Hamilton found a new coach: He was right under her nose.
"I couldn't have asked for a luckier circumstance," Hamilton said. "That winning tradition runs in his blood."
That's no ordinary blood. It's Holder blood. Starting next season, the Greenbrier baseball team will be under the leadership of Rodney Holder, son of Terry Holder, the man who won three baseball state championships in the late 1990s as coach at Greenbrier. Terry is now coach of the Thomson High School baseball team.
Rodney Holder said he hopes to continue his family's winning tradition.
"That's something our family's real proud of," Rodney said. "It's always been a family atmosphere with our programs. You want to try to make them proud and make the kids better."
The task of making the Wolfpack better won't come easy for Holder. There won't be much room for improvement on a team that entered the week undefeated with six of its first 10 wins coming via the 10-run mercy rule.
Williams, who has led the team this far, will still finish out what looks to be a promising season for Greenbrier. Williams said he has no worries about placing the team in Holder's hands.
"I know he's going to do well, and he's going to work the kids hard and get a lot out of them," Williams said. "He was assistant with us for the first few years. He got out of it for two years, and this is an opportunity for him to get back in it."
Holder has served as a P.E. and weightlifting coach at Greenbrier since 2000.
"This was probably as easy a decision as it's come this year," Hamilton said. "He's a great role model, and that's what I was looking for."