After building Gray Collegiate Academy into one of the top high school basketball programs in the state, Dion Bethea is giving him a chance as a college coach.
Bethea will leave the War Eagles to accept a job as an assistant coach at Division I Georgia Southern, a source with knowledge of the move told The State. Bethea was scheduled to inform his team Monday afternoon.
He will fill Charlie Henry’s GSU staff spot left vacant when Chris Shumate left for UAB.
Bethea has made no secret of his desire to be a college basketball coach in recent years. He brought up the topic in March after Gray’s latest state championship win against Oceanside Collegiate.
“Stay tuned, you’ll see,” Bethea said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity. I’m going to meet with my wife, my daughters, my agent and my inner circle to see what’s in store for Dion and what’s in store for Gray as well.”
At Georgia Southern, Bethea will reunite with two of his former Gray players: Avantae Parker and Braylhan Thomas. Parker just finished his freshman season at Georgia Southern, while Thomas was part of the 2024 recruiting class.
Bethea has been the only coach in Gray’s program history since before the school joined the South Carolina High School League in the 2014-15 school year and became eligible for postseason play in 2016-17.
Bethea won 273 games in his career at Gray Collegiate. The War Eagles won 20 or more games in six of Bethea’s last eight years as head coach and won all six Class 2A titles, including the last three in a row.
He has coached several Division I prospects at Gray, including Gatorade Player of the Year Jalek Felton, Juwan Gary and Tommy Bruner, who led Division I in scoring this year, as well as Thomas and Parker.
This will be the second major coaching change at Gray after longtime football coach and athletic director Adam Holmes resigned in December. Both changes come ahead of the War Eagles’ jump from Class 2A to 4A for the 2024-25 school year. Gray is among the schools moving up in the rankings due to the SCHSL’s realignment that took into account an out-of-zone multiplier for the first time.
De’Angelo Bryant has been hired to replace Holmes as football coach and Kevin Heise, Men’s Soccer Coach is the school’s new athletic director.
Changes in Midlands basketball
▪ Former Eau Claire standout Jacob “Junior” Laurie has been hired as the men’s basketball coach at his alma mater. Laurie has spent nine of the past 10 years on Bethea’s staff at Gray. He also was the women’s coach at C.A. Johnson for one season. Laurie replaces Herbert Hunter, who left to take the job at South Florence.
▪ Dreher named Kristen Fortenberry as his new girls basketball coach. Fortenberry replaces Teresa Jones. Fortenberry previously coached at Ben Lippen and Northside Christian.
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