What Lincoln is Thinkin’ - Boyd Announcement

First Release From Darlington County Schools

Boyd To Lead Silver Foxes Football Team

(Lamar) – Putting an end to a week of speculation, Lamar High School officials today named Coach J. R. Boyd as the new head football coach of the Lamar High School Silver Foxes. Boyd coached the Silver Foxes for fourteen years before leaving two years ago to accept another coaching position. He returned to Lamar this year as an assistant coach under Coach Charlie Poole.

“I am pleased Coach Boyd has agreed to take on the head football coach’s role,” said principal Kathy Gainey. “This is not about who has the better winning record. Both men are excellent coaches. Coach Boyd brings a different approach to discipline, academics, and training than Coach Poole. It’s about who we think can best serve our students and our community in this capacity.”

Boyd, who is a certified high school teacher, teaches Driver's Education and Physical Education at Lamar High School.

“Charlie is my friend and I have a great deal of respect for him and his family,” said Boyd. “I take this job with utmost respect for the Silver Fox Family and know that we must get to work and get to work fast. We are going through some adverse times and must persevere by working hard and preparing for the future. I will meet with the players and coaches and we will get started on preparing for the future of Silver Fox Football.”

Second Release from Darlington County Schools:

Additional statement on the Lamar High School coaching changes:

A great deal has been made about the coaching changes at Lamar High School and the reappointment of J.R. Boyd as head football coach.
According to principal Kathy Gainey, “We would have made a coaching change, even if Coach Boyd was not here. His presence was not the deciding factor. Now it’s time to move forward and get on with the business of education at Lamar High School.”

If it wasn't the deciding factor, like she says, it was a very large factor. This whole situation stinks, for Charlie Poole, for Alan Poole and for J.R. Boyd. If I was him, I would not want to take the job under these circumstances. I sincerely doubt that Boyd came back to be an assistant last year with the thought that he would be back as head coach soon.

What I'm mostly surprised about is that Darlington County took less than a week to promote Coach Boyd. Everyone was saying this was fishy since we announced Coach Poole was demoted last Thursday. You'd think that Lamar would make some semblance of an effort to take the time to bring other candidates in. Instead, by spending just six days to make this decision, it intensifies the scrutiny even more.

Tell me what you think? Obviously Charlie Poole got a raw deal. There's no debating that. But is Lamar better off having Boyd back? And if they are, wouldn't that make this the right thing to do?

Give me your thoughts.

Posted by on 03/05 at 11:03 PM

I have had the privledge of working with both Coach Poole and Coach Boyd, but Coach Poole got a raw deal. I thought that the Darlington County School District had to publicize this job for a period of time, and then interview candidates. Did they violate their policy. I would like to know who the finalists for the job were. I bet there wasn’t any. This was a done under the table and someone should investigate if the school district followed policy.

Posted by  on  03/05  at  11:27 PM

Mr. Newman,
Are you from Hartsville or Darlington?  Those are the only people who would share your opinion.

What I cam here to say however, is that all Lamar supporters-PLEASE-unite.  The rest of the area would love for Lamar athletics to go away so they could finally win.  Coach Poole did not get a raw deal.  He was dismissed from the head coaching position because of several reasons.  The most important reason is the fact that he is not ready to be a head coach.  The other reasons are between he and his employer. 

I know a lot of you out there that have been whining about this are the same people that were sitting in the stands for the last 3 seasons whining about the poor coaching.  Charlie is a nice guy, but he is not a good head coach yet.

Be thankful that Coach Boyd was here to step in and that we didn’t have to make choosing a new coach a long drawn out process that would delay future plans for the program.

Big Silver Fox Fan

Posted by  on  03/06  at  07:46 PM

Mr. Newman, I do thank you for your opinion and I am from Florence.
Big silver fox fan, what are the several reasons for Poole being fired?  You seem to know more than the rest of us.
I don’t think Boyd was here by chance, so a long drawn out process probably wasn’t going to happpen.
If a good head coach has to cuss at & hit the players, then you are right, Poole isn’t ready.

Posted by  on  03/06  at  08:20 PM

I am a former Silver Fox from x number of years ago and my head coach at the time had a saying: “Anyone with one eye and half a brain knows that.” That applies to this situation.

Any thinking person can readily see, as someone else posted, there has been some under-the-table-stuff going on here. 

The f.b. team has become a god to this town, and now they think they aren’t supposed to go without winning a State Championship every year.  Anyone should understand that any H.S. football team, especially small schools, are going to have good and bad seasons.  It doesn’t matter who the coach is, there are going to be some lean seasons. 

I like both men. I just think that Coach Boyd could have shown a little class if he really had respect for Charlie.  What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong and Charlie Poole was just plain done wrong by the board… period.

Posted by  on  03/06  at  09:27 PM

The principal at Lamar is a joke if she thinks anyone is buying the swampland she is selling.  After she quits trying to spin this one, I think she should go into a career trying to sell Ocean front property in Arizona.

Posted by  on  03/07  at  08:51 AM

It’s safe to say that JR Boyd would’ve been a head coach somewhere this year…

whether it be South Florence, Timmonsville or some other open job around the state.

So is it worth firing Poole to keep Boyd in Silver and Black?

Posted by  on  03/07  at  02:52 PM

Big Silver Fox fan. I am from Hartsville and I used to work a small weely newspaper. Part of my beat was covering Lamar sports, especially football.  Both Coach Poole and Coach Boyd are great coaches and well organized. they made my job easier to cover them and anything I need, all I had to do was ask. To say that Coach Poole wsan’t to be a head coach, his record as head track coach speaks for itself as well as his three years as football coach. I think he made it to the Lower State 2 of 3 years. My biggist problem was how fast Coach Boyd was hired, Was it less than six days. I thought the School District had to advertise the opening for a period of time, and then an interview process would take place. Coaches didn’t have time to get their resume in to the district office. If they wanted to hire Coach Boyd as head coach, and why wouldn’t they, they could have waited until April. This situation smell really bad, and I would like to see someone ask the Darlingotn County School district to serious questions; as to did they follow district policy.  I would hope the papers and TV stations in the Pee Dee would ask these questions to give the taxpayers some answers.

Posted by  on  03/07  at  04:24 PM

If Boyd was getting ready to leave for a head coaching job elsewhere, then I do exactly what Lamar did. JR Boyd/Charlie Poole I’ll take coach Boyd in a flash. I still think there was more to this decision than we know, but some things may have to stay in a personnel file. One thing for sure Lamar had lost a step in the last couple of years and was not the same physical hard nosed team they are known for.

Posted by  on  03/09  at  02:13 PM

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