A handful of basketball coaching changes for the upcoming season were officially approved Monday night by the Polk County Board of Education.
New junior varsity coaches were named for Polk County High School and new coaches were also chosen for Polk County Middle School as staffs at both locations shuffled for the 2014-15 season. Assistant coaches were also approved for both schools.
POLK COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL
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Former Polk County High junior varsity coach Michelle Fagan is the new head girls coach at Polk Middle. Fagan will be assisted by Brittany Staley.
An East-West All-Star game pick while at East Henderson, Fagan played collegiately at Queens College and served as an assistant coach for one season at Furman. She coached at Apple Valley Middle School before coming to Polk County in 2008. She is a health/PE teacher at PCHS.
Fagan replaces Brandy Alm, who is now the head girls basketball coach at Polk County High.
John Rochford is the new head boys coach at Polk County Middle School. He will be assisted by DeShane Briscoe.
Rochford currently is on staff at Polk County High School. He replaces Billy Alm, who was approved as an assistant high school girls coach.
Following a stellar high school career at Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, N.J., where he played both football and basketball, Rochford signed with the University of Miami and played offensive line for the Hurricanes. He signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2008 but was waived before the start of the season.
Rochford is also an assistant football coach at Polk County High School.
POLK COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL
Stacey Shields is the new head girls junior varsity coach. Shields will be assisted by Danielle Dinardo.
Shields graduated from Polk County High School in 2005 and returned to PCHS after graduating from Western Carolina with a degree in criminal justice. He served the past two seasons as an assistant coach to Alm while Alm coached at Polk County Middle.
Jon Hampton is the new head boys junior varsity coach. Hampton will be assisted by Otis Miller.
A Polk County High School graduate, Hampton has five years of experience coaching at PCHS as an assistant in the boys program and also coached a number of current Polk County High School players as an AAU coach.
Varsity assistant coaches approved Monday included Tre Kirkland and Josh Money (boys) and Billy Alm (girls).
