Wilmington's most notable coaches? Here are 58.

BUCK HARDEE: Along with a American Legion National World Series appearance in 1970 as coach for the Wilmington Post 10 baseball team, the Whiteville native has the baseball field at Legion Stadium named after him. In 24 years leading New Hanover baseball, he won 396 games and 13 conference titles. Seven years after his mentor, Leon Brogden, was put in the NCHSAA Hall of Fame, Hardee received the same honor. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

JIM HEBBE: After stints at Roland Grise and Tileston, the Indiana native went on to coach boys basketball at Hoggard, where he led the Vikings to a 4A state finalist appearance. The first gym built at the school was later named for him. [SUBMITTED PHOTO]

JACK HOLLEY: He amassed plenty of state championship hardware as the football coach at Wallace-Rose Hill. In fact, he retired as the state’s all-time winningest coach. He was also a three-sport athlete at New Hanover under legendary coach Leon Brogden. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

SHERRI TYNES: Pictured left, the former Laney girls basketball coach remains in the profession with the Buccaneers’ girls golf team. While on the hardwood, she coached Laney for 23 years and never had a losing season. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

DAVID BREWSTER: The former New Hanover baseball coach, pictured here watching then-players Chris LaMarsh and Parker Southerland sign to play college baseball, led the Wildcats to six conference titles and two state championships from the late 1980s into the late 1990s. The North Carolina Coach of the Year in 1993 and ’94, he also led the American Legion Post 10 club to two state crowns. Brewster passed away in late December of 2019. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

JOE MILLER: The former New Hanover football and county athletic director led the Wildcats to a state championship. However, his first state title came in 1975 leading New Hanover softball. He added a Division II state crown for football in 1983 and is also in the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

SHEILA BOLES: After her own success as a UNCW women’s basketball player, she parlayed into a coaching career at Laney and then Hoggard, where she was the first woman in North Carolina to coach a boys basketball team. Boles also coached boys and girls golf along with a stint as athletic director. In 2017, the school’s new gym was renamed Sheila Boles Gym. She’s a member of the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame and will have her UNCW jersey retired in January. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

DAVE ALLEN: During his 37-year career as the UNCW swimming coach, he amassed 13 men’s and three women’s CAA titles and was league coach of the year 15 times. He also started a swim school for area youth. [JOE BROWNING/UNCW]

TAMMY PRUDEN: The longtime Hoggard swimming coach (middle in picture) has turned the Mideastern Conference swim championships into the Hoggard show. The Vikings have won 18 of the league’s last 20 championships. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

TONYA AND ROBERT UPTON: When it comes to Wilmington Christian Academy athletics, here’s your foundation. Teachers and coaches for 30-plus years, the husband-and-wife duo have coached at least eight sports while Tonya’s volleyball teams won 12 state titles in 22 years, including a national crown. Robert led three softball and two boys soccer clubs to state titles. Both retired from coaching in late 2018. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

CLIFTON “POP” HERRING: Perhaps known more as the former Laney boys basketball coach who mentored Michael Jordan -- and the false story that he cut Jordan from the team. In fact he kept the future superstar on JV his sophomore year. Herring coached from 1977-82 for the Buccaneers and guided them to three divisional semifinals and one regional semifinal. Before coaching at Laney, he was an assistant basketball coach at New Hanover. As a student at New Hanover, he was the school’s first black quarterback and later played football at N.C. Central. Herring passed away in December. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

RICHARD FOY: Thelongtime New Hanover baseball coach has brought the Wildcats back to state prominence thanks to back-to-back 3A state championships in 2018-19 alongside mentoring a host of college talent, including first-round MLB Draft pick Blake Walston. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

LINWOOD HEDGEPETH: Seen here third from left during the 2019 Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, the longtime Hallsboro and Whiteville baseball coach won five state titles and two state American Legion crowns. He also led future first-round MLB Draft picks Tommy Greene and Patrick Lennon during the mid-1980s for the baseball-rich Wolfpack program. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

JERRY WAINWRIGHT: From 1994-2002, he elevated UNCW men’s basketball thanks to a pair of CAA regular season and tournament titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances, including a first round upset of Southern Cal in 2002. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

MARK SCALF: The now-retired UNCW baseball coach turned the Seahawks into a perennial winner not long after taking the job in 1992. The all-time wins leader in CAA baseball, he finished with 941 victories and his 10th NCAA Tournament appearance last spring. Under Scalf, 83 players have go on to play professionally. [KEN OOTS/FOR THE STARNEWS]

SCOTT BRASWELL: The former Hoggard football coach led the program for 18 seasons, won 167 games, 12 Mideastern Conference titles and a 4A state championship in 2007. While Hoggard’s football stadium is now named after him, Braswell now coaches at Woodberry Forest in Virginia. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

RUBY SUTTON: The recent Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame inductee led Laney basketball, cheerleading, softball, boys and girls tennis and volleyball during a 41-year career. In tennis she won five Mideastern Conference titles and five more in volleyball, including a regional title and 4A state final appearance in 1996. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

JASPER “JAP” DAVIS: After a playing career at Duke, he came to New Hanover to assist Leon Brogden and was either head or assistant coach for football, basketball, wrestling, tennis, golf and baseball. He led golf to a state title in 1959. The football field house was renovated and named in his honor. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

BILL BROOKS: Before there was Mark Scalf there was Bill Brooks, who’s considered the father of UNCW athletics. As athletic director, he led the Seahawks from junior college and then NAIA status to NCAA Division I and the CAA. As baseball coach, he won two junior college national titles in 1961 and 1963. Brooks is in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

GARRY BISHOP: He turned North Brunswick football into a winning program and the Scorpions’ track teams into state powers. On the gridiron he tallied 14 winning seasons, including four with 10 or more victories. He also won multiple state team titles in outdoor and indoor track and field. The school’s football stadium is now named after Bishop. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

VERTHA DIXON-WRIGHT: In a 31-year career, the girls basketball coach racked up more than 500 wins, all at New Hanover to make her one of the state’s winningest coaches in the sport. She retired in 2017. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

COLLEEN ST. LEDGER: The Hoggard softball coach has been in the dugout for 24 years and led the Vikings to the 4A state championship series this past spring. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

ALAN SEWELL: The former Laney wrestling coach, pictured left, was inducted into the state chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in May. In his 12 seasons leading the program, the Buccaneers won eight Mideastern Conference titles, three regional crowns and a state championship in 1992. [SUBMITTED PHOTO]

RON STRICKLAND: The longtime Hoggard volleyball coach has seen an abundance of players move on to the college ranks and recently helped the Vikings win another Mideastern Conference title. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

BRAD BROWNELL: Before he joined the ACC ranks as men’s basketball coach at Clemson, he was leading UNCW. To help raise funds for Hurricane Florence relief, he brought the Tigers to Trask Coliseum for an exhibition game against the Seahawks in 2018. While in Wilmington, he led UNCW to two NCAA Tournament trips and was part of two more as an assistant under Jerry Wainwright. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

CATHY CLARIS: She’s done a little of everything at Trask: coached volleyball, basketball, boys soccer and cheerleading, kept the scorebook for boys and girls soccer and officiated volleyball state championships. In 1987, she won a state title in volleyball while leading Trinity High near Thomasville. In May, she was given the annual Homer Thompson “Eight Who Make A Difference” award from the NCHSAA. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

JEEP ST. LEDGER: Yes, the brother of Colleen. He was also a longtime fixture with Hoggard, coaching its baseball program. He amassed more than 500 wins in more than 30 years. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

JOEY PRICE: In eight seasons leading Wallace-Rose Hill football, Joey Price earned five state titles. He spent a year coaching in South Carolina before later joining his son, Jarret, as part of the Whilteville coaching staff. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

RYAN MANTLO: As the men’s basketball coach at Cape Fear Community College for 11 seasons, he won five Region 10 tournament titles, was a district coach of the year five times, produced the school’s first all-Americans and garnered an eighth-place finish in the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament in 2011 after the Sea Devils recorded a single-season record 26 victories. He also helped engineer state-of-the-art renovations to the Schwartz Center as the athletic director, a title he keeps today. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

GARY BATTLE: He led Pender boys basketball for 10 seasons and won 142 games, posting four-straight 20-win seasons and a berth in the 1A state championship game in 2011. He also coached other Patriot teams, such as girls basketball, where he led that squad to a state final appearance in 2008. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

RODNEY ORR: He picked up his 300th career win during a Trask boys basketball victory against Hoggard in 2016.

JIMMY FLETCHER: The longtime coach and athletic administrator led West Brunswick football for 10 seasons before taking the school’s athletic director title. He still helps out on the football staff. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

BILL WHITE: The former Topsail baseball coach won 20 games in eight of his 13 seasons in Hampstead, including two trips to the 1A state championship series. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

KEVIN KEATTS: The rebuilding project was quick for UNCW men’s basketball thanks to Kevin Keatts, who brought the program from the bottom of the CAA to three-straight regular season titles and two tournament crowns, which allowed the Seahawks NCAA Tournament trips in 2016-17. In three seasons he won 72 games before leaving to take the head job at N.C. State. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

TOM EANES: He took over a struggling Pender football program. By his seventh year in 2010, he had the Patriots in the 1AA state championship game. He moved on to coach at Ashley with minimal success and now leads western North Carolina school Bandys. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

JOHN TELLER: The former boys and girls soccer coach at Hoggard led the girls to a 4A state championship appearance in 2010. That same season, he earned multiple coach of the year honors. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

MEADE MCFARLANE: The longtime Cape Fear Academy boys soccer coach won his first state championship in 2018. He was named StarNewsVarsity Coach of the Year in June. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

WAYNE ROGERS: He led Hoggard girls cross country from 1989-2010 and now helps at Topsail. With the Vikings he won 14 Mideastern Conference titles, five regional championships and a sixth place state meet finish in 2003. The fieldhouse at Scott Braswell Stadium is named after him. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

MIKE ALDERSON: For 26 years, he helped coach football and baseball. As the head baseball coach, he won a state title in 2004. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

TOM ROPER: In six seasons, the former Pender softball coach nearly finished half of them with 1A state titles. After winning back-to-back ones, he resigned in 2007 to spend more time with family. He won 126 games in that span. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

EARL SMITH: He had two stints coaching New Hanover football, and his second proved noteworthy with a 3AA state championship in 2017. In six total seasons with the Wildcats, Smith won 55 games and two Mideastern Conference crowns in his final four years before retiring in 2018. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

KEVIN MOTSINGER: While coach at New Hanover, he enjoyed three 10-win or better seasons from 2006-14. He got back into coaching at powerhouse Wallace-Rose Hill, where he won a 2A state championship in 2017. Before his stint at New Hanover, he led James Kenan for three seasons and has won more than 100 games in his career. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

LARRY HONEYCUTT: While known more as an area football official from high schools to ACC, Honeycutt also coached at UNCW, most notably men’s tennis for 25 years. He was named the NAIA Coach of the Year in 1975. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

JIM BRETT: He won at every stop in his coaching career, including back-to-back state football titles in 1992-93 at West Brunswick and in different classifications (2A and 3A). A 2018 inductee into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame, he also won four track state titles at Tarboro in the 1970s and led Northern Nash to a 4A East Regional Final in 2002. [PHOTO COURTESY NCHSAA]

BRETT QUEEN: Boles. Hebbe. Braswell. Queen. Sure, the other three have Hoggard facilities named after them and are shoo-ins for a school Mount Rushmore, but you can argue Brett Queen has also made a big impact at the school. A 1990 Hoggard grad, he became head coach of the school’s boys basketball team in 2002 and 13 years later became the program’s winningest coach -- surpassing Hebbe. STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

PATTY EVERS: The East Bladen girls basketball coach has produced a consistent winner for more than 20 years. The Eagles have qualified for the state playoffs for 21-straight seasons. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

WALTER SHAW: The longtime men’s basketball coach at Brunswick Community College is the school’s all-time wins leader and won four Region 10 regular season titles. He’s helped more than 90 players move on to four-year colleges and universities. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

E.A. "SPIKE" CORBIN: He was part of state championship teams at Williston High School in football and baseball. Pictured here at left, Corbin went on to lead Hoggard baseball. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

FRED LYNCH: He’s seen basically everything in Laney athletics, from being the longtime boys basketball coach and mentoring Michael Jordan to now the athletic director. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

AL PASTORE: A longtime fixture on the local soccer scene, Al Pastore helped bring the Wilmington Hammerheads professional soccer team to the Port City. He also coached the New Hanover boys and girls soccer teams. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

RAY BEATTY: He’s had success as girls basketball coach at Hoggard and now Cape Fear Academy. [KEN BLEVINS/STARNEWS]

AIDEN HEANEY: Since becoming the UNCW men’s soccer coach in 2001, he’s made the Seahawks a perennial CAA power and had multiple NCAA Tournament appearances. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

ADRIENNE GALE: The Ashley girls basketball coach continues to keep the Screaming Eagles competitive in the Mideastern Conference. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

BRIAN STEWART: He remains the first and only head baseball coach at Ashley. He’s reached a state championship series in 2007 and been to the postseason in more than 10 seasons. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

AMY BAMBENEK: She’s led UNCW volleyball for 11 seasons and holds a number of program firsts: first CAA tournament title, NCAA appearance and single-season wins in 2015. [STARNEWS FILE PHOTO]

YOGI HICKMAN: He replaced a coach who won back-to-back state championships, but you’d never know the pressure was on the then-new West Brunswick football coach. While he wasn’t able to bring another crown to Shallotte, Hickman’s results certainly kept up the Trojans’ reputation as a top tier program. From 1994-99, he amassed 53 wins, which included three 10-win campaigns. The next West Brunswick coach to win 10 or more in a season? His son Brett this past fall. [PHOTO COURTESY HICKMAN FAMILY]