Fort Mill High has hired a new volleyball coach after former head coach Kelly Jones stepped down due to her family expanding with her pregnancy.
Jim Seidel has been hired to take over the program from Jones, who was head coach for two seasons. Seidel, who lives in Fort Mill, comes to the Jackets program from Mountain Island Charter School in Mount Holly, N.C. where he took the school to the state title match this season. He was also coached at Gaston Day School before working with Mountain Island Charter, where he helped to guide them to a state title match in 2020, before falling in the finals.
Seidel was named North Carolina Volleyball Coaches Association 1A Coach of the Year for the sport for this past season guiding Mountain Island Charter to an 18-1 record.
Living in Fort Mill helped, so when Seidel was offered the job, he said it was something he jumped at.
“Fort Mill schools are a premier school system in South Carolina,” he said. “It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Seidel has coached volleyball at the club level and high school for the past six years. He also coaches the Carolina Union Volleyball Club and has been coaching high school volleyball for four years.
One thing Seidel said he wants to do is get the Fort Mill volleyball program involved in more high-profile tournaments across the state. In doing so, he feels like it will raise their caliber of play and in turn make them better by facing the best competition possible.
“I want to get in as many tournaments as we can,” he said.
Seidel’s expectations out of the gate are lofty, but he believes they are able to be accomplished.
“I have high expectations for this team,” he said. “I believe I have a winning formula that works with volleyball. My goal is to win the region this year (2021). We have an incredible ton of club players and we have a strong senior class coming up.”
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
