Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools announced the hiring of four new high school coaches on Thursday night.

Among those are former Reidsville High boys’ basketball coach Bill Walton, who will take over for Interim Chapel Hill High School Coach Lason Perkins; and Carrboro High Assistant Football Coach Melvin Griffin, who now takes over the head coach position.

Tim Bennett, Athletic Director at Chapel Hill High, issued a statement that reads, in part:

“We are excited to announce three new coaches, William Walton, Jason Curtis and Greg Cain, to our coaching staff at Chapel Hill High School. Each one brings valuable experience and strong leadership to our athletic program.”

And Carrboro High School Athletic Director April Ross issued this statement about new head football coach Melvin Griffin.

“Coach Griffin has extensive knowledge and experience in football, and we have the utmost respect and confidence in his abilities to lead our program. We are currently seeking qualified assistant coaches to complete our football coaching staff.”

Griffin replaces Jason Tudryn, who left in April to take a job as UNC’s first Director of High School Relations.

New Chapel Hill High Boy’s Basketball Coach Bill Walton resigned as Reidsville High’s head coach back in January, citing health reasons.

In eight-plus seasons, Walton led the Reidsville Rams to a record of 145-72.

His most recent predecessor at Chapel Hill High, Lason Perkins, was named interim coach in the wake of former Athletic Director and Head Coach Tod Morgan’s departure last September. Morgan took a job at C.B. Aycock High School in Pikeville.

Perkins led the Tigers through a 19-8 season, and was an assistant coach under Morgan for four years.

At Thursday night’s Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education meeting at Lincoln Center, several people from the basketball program at Chapel Hill High came out to voice their disappointment that Perkins would not carry on as head coach. This was just before the new hires were announced.

One of those speakers, team member Jeremy Werden, is the student body president-elect of Chapel Hill High.

“I’ve been in the Chapel Hill High Basketball program for three years,” said Werden. “Throughout these years, the varsity basketball team has encompassed a 69-14 record, as well as being back-to-back-to-back conference champions.

“While our current coach was not the head coach for two of those years, he was still a crucial part of the program. He’s a great tactician, coming up with countless offensive and defensive schemes, created to complement our personnel.”

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Executive Director for Community Relations Jeff Nash has pointed out that CHCCS hires all coaches for only one season at a time.

The other two new coach hires for Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools are:

Greg Cain, the head softball and baseball coach for Smith Middle School, who will now be the head coach for Chapel Hill High softball, and;

Jason Curtis, the new head coach for men’s and women’s soccer at Chapel Hill High. He’s stepping up from the assistant coaching position there.

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