Gray Collegiate welcomed two new coaches to its athletic family last week. 

The school announced Matthew Hornsby will take over the baseball program, and Deon Wilson was named the program’s first wrestling coach. 

“Days like today are always enjoyable to me as a principal, to welcome a new coach to Gray in coach Wilson and to welcome a coach back to Gray in coach Horsby,” School principal Brian Newsome said. 

Hornsby returns to Gray after previously serving as the head coach at Dreher High School in Columbia. He was previously an assistant coach under the school’s previous baseball coach Charlie Assey. 

Assey and Hornsby are close friends and talked about the prospect of taking over at Gray before he accepted. 

“Coach Assey is my best friend,” Hornsby said. “We talk every night. He's just a great dude. He's a good mentor. He's done an excellent job here building the foundation. I'm excited about adding my twist to it and being able to continue what he's done. And then, add some things that are important to me and things that I've done the last three years when I was at Dreher.”  

Hornsby’s three-year run at Dreher saw the Blue Devils win two region championships in 2022 and 2023. The team was runner-up in 2024. 

Deciding to return to Gray was tough, but Hornsby is excited to return to a program he is familiar with and has a history of success. 

“It wasn't in the plans, and you know, God has other plans,” Hornsby said. “I'll be able to coach my son again and be able to coach a lot of his friends and a lot of kids that I've coached since they were five or six years old.” 

The Gray baseball team has been a consistent contender in recent years. Assey led the program to two state title appearances. The 2024 team made it to the Upper State championship series before losing to Strom Thurmond. 

This upcoming season will be uncharted territory for the War Eagles. It will be the program’s first year in 4A play after statewide reclassification moved the school up from 2A.  

Gray will play in a tough conference that includes fellow Lexington County schools Airport, Brookland-Cayce and Gilbert. Aiken, South Aiken, North Augusta and Midland Valley make up the rest of the region. 

“This is a great region for baseball,” Hornsby said. “We're excited about getting out there and putting the work in and competing every night.” 

Hornsby plans to use the knowledge he learned at Dreher to help make the transition smoother. He said he learned a lot during his first stint as a head coach, including all the ins and outs that go into getting the season rolling.

“When you're a head coach everything falls on you,” Hornsby said. “It’s great when you're an assistant. You show up and coach baseball, and you go home. When you're a head coach, you coach baseball, you do fundraising, you're ordering uniforms, you're ordering equipment, you're worrying about the field. At Dreer, I was cutting the grass three times a week. So, it was an eye-opener.”

Wilson will be tasked with building the wrestling program from the ground up. The 2024-25 season will be the first for the Gray Collegiate wrestling team. 

Wilson is no stranger to building programs. He previously served as an assistant coach at Brookland-Cayce High School when it got its wrestling program up and running. This time he is excited to mold a program into his vision. 

“It's finally my program,” Wilson said. “Everybody's going to embody how I think and how I feel, and when you get those younger minds to do that, It's going to be a big deal. I'm telling you. It's going to be a big deal. It's got to be exciting.” 

Many students at Gray have already expressed interest in joining the wrestling team. During his introductory press conference, Wilson got to speak to a few of those players and give them a feel for who he is as a coach.

“I just wanted to reiterate to them that, ‘listen, we're going to have a target on our back, and that's just because we're great,’” Wilson said. “We're going to have to be on our P's and Q's. We're going to make sure our grades are right. We're going to make sure we don't fall short with our eating. We're going to make sure we don't fall short with our conditioning because we're not going to be the most technical sound team there is because everybody didn't wrestle for four or five, six years, but we will outwork people and I've seen it. I've seen state champions made by outworking people.” 

The War Eagles will have to compete against some of the top programs in the state. Like the baseball team, their region includes Gilbert, Airport, Brookland-Cayce, North Augusta, Midland Valley, Aiken and South Aiken. 

“They're gonna have to look out for us, honestly,” Wilson said. “I know those guys and those coaches personally. They're great people, but they know what I do. They know how I get the kids to perform, and of course, I'm going to say I'm going to shoot for region champs. But, I'll be honest with you, give me second or third my first year, I'll be alright with that. The following year, it's go time. Nothing less than Region Champs.”