THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407080239
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 62 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER
CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: GATESVILLE LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Gates County lost a shooting star as a head football coach, but gained another man with experience this week as the Gates County Board of Education named Richard Clark Harrell Jr. the new head coach at the rural high school.
Donnie Kiefer left Gates for Andrews High School with a 25-13-1 record and three straight playoff appearances. Harrell comes to Gates with several high school coaching stints under his belt.
Harrell, who played college ball at East Carolina University, was an assistant coach with the Pirates before taking the head coaching job at Columbia High School from 1984 through 1985. From there, Harrell went to North Brunswick High School, Bartlett-Yates High School, Wilson-Beddingfield High School, Sun Valley High School, and his most recent head coaching position, Harding University High School in Charlotte. He has experience in coaching at every North Carolina high school level from 1A to 4A.
``I think Gates County was lucky to get him,'' said Cleveland Hawkins, superintendent of Gates County Schools, after the Board of Education vote. ``We've got a good man.''
John Lane, assistant superintendent, said that Harrell was looking to get out of the big city.
``He wanted to move from a metropolitan area to a rural area,'' Lane said. ``We enticed him to come to Gates County. We've been pleased with our athletic and academic programs through the years and we're looking forward to working with Harrell. We feel very fortunate to have a coach of his caliber to come to Gates County.''
Harrell earned a master's degree in health and physical education from East Carolina. by CNB