With the 2024-25 high school sports season in the books, it’s a good time to look back on some of the biggest storylines from this past year. Below are three of the most notable trends from this past season. 

First-year coaches look to build success in the shadow of legends 

Many long-time legendary local coaches were off the sidelines for the first time this year as five of the county’s most successful coaches retired or resigned before this season began. 

Their replacements had big shoes to fill. While comparable success will not come right away, many coaches laid a solid foundation. The next few years will be critical to their success. 

On the football field, Gilbert’s Ozzie Exume and Chapin’s Ryan Cole navigated their team through a pair of tough schedules in their first year as head coaches. 

Exume replaced Chad Leaphart, Gilbert’s winningest coach in history. His first year at the helm started with a rocky 1-3 start, but the team turned a corner in region play. 

Gilbert finished the year 5-2 to finish second in their conference and earn a spot in the 4A playoffs. The Indians won their first two playoff games before their run ended on the road against region rival North Augusta. 

Cole took over the Chapin program from Justin Gentry. He spent 14 years as the Eagles’ head coach and led the team as it transitioned from 3A to 5A play. 

Chapin started Cole’s first season hot, winning four of its five out-of-region contests. The Eagles play in one of the hardest conferences in the state, and struggled against their local competition. 

The team went 1-5 in region games but still managed to qualify for the postseason. Chapin proved it was better than its conference record showed and won its opening playoff game in a thriller. The Eagles’ season concluded in the second round against region rival and state runner-up, Irmo. 

On the basketball court, Irmo’s Tim Whipple passed the baton after retiring. The former Yellow Jackets coach was a six-time state champion and is the second-winningest coach in South Carolina history. 

Whipple’s protégé, Alex Quillen, won state titles with Whipple as both a player and an assistant coach. In his first season, Quillen’s Yellow Jackets finished 16-10 and 5-5 in region games. 

Lastly, River Bluff went through its first season without head soccer coach Phil Savitz. During his 45-year career, Savitz became the state’s all-time winningest soccer coach and won 14 state titles, mostly at Irmo. 

Savitz left Irmo to become River Bluff’s coach when the school opened its doors in 2013. He led the team to River Bluff’s first competitive sports championship in school history in 2016. He retired after the 2024 season. 

Thad Miller took the reins of the team this season. Miller is a long-time friend of Savitz. He played for him during his high school years at Irmo before going to the University of South Carolina for soccer. Miller began his coaching career at Brookland-Cayce before eventually joining Savitz at Irmo and serving alongside him for 25 years at both schools. 

In his first year in charge, Miller’s Gators went 10-8 overall, 5-5 in region play and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. 

Region shake-ups create new rivalries within Lexington County

One of the biggest question marks entering this season was how the high school league’s teams would react to their new region placements. 

Following a multi-year, and still ongoing, debate about fairness between public and charter schools, the South Carolina High School League added a student multiplier that completely reshaped the landscape of region and classifications in the state. 

Schools like Gray Collegiate, which have a large out-of-zone student body, jumped multiple classifications. The War Eagles went from 2A to 4A, playing with some schools that have almost twice their enrollment number. 

These new look regions created new, unique rivalries while strengthening old ones. 

In 5A, six Lexington County teams came together to form one conference. Irmo moved up from 4A and joined Lexington, River Bluff, White Knoll, Chapin and Dutch Fork. 

The Silver Foxes and Yellow Jackets are the only two public high schools in the town of Irmo. Now that they were in the same conference, the pair played in every sport, including on the football field, where a highly anticipated game decided the region champion. 

No classification saw as much change as 4A in Lexington County. With Irmo’s move, Airport would’ve been left as the only team in the classification, but Gilbert, Brookland-Cayce and Gray Collegiate all moved up from lower classifications. 

This created many exciting matchups throughout the year, including the Gray versus Brookland-Cayce basketball series and the Airport versus Gilbert baseball series. Both matchups had huge playoff implications. 

These new regions are not guaranteed to stay in place during the next round of reclassification. They have, so far, created a new environment in Lexington County where the top local teams are always guaranteed to play each other. 

SCHSL’s future in the air

Stemming from the competitive balance debate and its fallout, the South Carolina High School League's future is unclear, facing pressure from state lawmakers. 

This past legislative session, lawmakers proposed a bill that would effectively disband the league and create a government-sponsored board to handle all of the league’s current responsibilities. 

The bill was put on hold for now after lawmakers met and came to an agreement with representatives of the league. While the SCHSL will operate next year, many representatives expressed a desire to revisit the issue in the future. 

Lawmakers feel the league’s policies are outdated and inadequate to handle today’s issues, including competitive balance and athletic eligibility. Some thought a change in leadership would be adequate enough, but calls for current commissioner Jerome Single to resign were rejected.

Both the league and the statehouse committed to working together this next year to address concerns and find a path forward.