Nation Ford head baseball coach Michael Lewis has stepped down from his position at the school and will be heading over to Catawba Ridge next school year.
Lewis has been the head baseball coach for the Falcons for three seasons, one of which was limited by the coronavirus to just five games into his first season. The Falcons made the playoffs the two full seasons he was at the helm of the program.
“First I want to thank all of the administration and coaches I have been fortunate to work with over the past five years,” Lewis said. “I will be forever grateful for their support and friendship. I also want to thank all of our players, both past and present (football and baseball) for all their hard work on and off the field. I am very proud to have called myself their coach.”
Lewis won’t be giving up coaching but will be an assistant football coach for the Copperheads reuniting him with former Nation Ford assistant and now Catawba Ridge head coach Zac Lendyak. He will also be an assistant baseball coach with Catawba Ridge’s Stas Swerdzewski, who he coached with as an assistant at Nation Ford for a couple of seasons before taking over the head position in 2020.
“Ultimately, my decision came down to getting in a situation that was best for me,” Lewis said. “When a position came open at Catawba Ridge, I reached out to Coach Lendyak and he and Coach Stas both have expressed interest in having me come over and join their coaching staffs. Everything moved forward from there. I am extremely excited to get to work with the student athletes at Catawba Ridge and help their programs to continue to develop.”
This is the third head coach that Nation Ford has lost within the past couple of months. The school still has an opening for a head boys basketball coach as former coach Jared Adamson stepped down after six seasons towards the end of April. He will be staying at the school to continue teaching.
Nation Ford head girls’ basketball coach Coretta Richmond took a job at White Knoll High School in Lexington. She was replaced by Kelly Bennett as head coach. Bennett came over to Nation Ford from Clover where he was an assistant with the girls’ program.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
