MYRTLE BEACH — Jeremy Howard was already on three different coaching staffs at Myrtle Beach High School, and now he will be on a fourth.
Howard was named the school's first-ever boys volleyball coach on June 9.
The South Carolina High School League sanctioned boys volleyball as a varsity sport on April 19, so schools all over the state have either been making their club programs into varsity teams or starting teams from scratch. For Myrtle Beach, it’s the latter.
Howard is also the head coach of boys tennis at the school, which just won its 11th state championship this past season, has been the head JV girls basketball head coach for three years and has also been an assistant coach for the varsity girls basketball squad since 2014.
“It’s an honor,” Howard said of being named the boys volleyball head coach. "We have students around the school that don’t play fall sports, football and those things, so actually getting them an opportunity to join something else, I think we’re going to have big turnout.”
Howard has played volleyball but has not coached it, so he has been getting pointers from former Myrtle Beach High girls volleyball head coach Larry Church, who now coaches with Grand Strand Juniors Volleyball, and Socastee’s new boys volleyball head coach Christine Gifford. Church led the Myrtle Beach girls to a Class AAAA state title in 2017.
“I actually went to my first tournament a couple weeks ago at the convention center here and sat with Coach Larry Church,” Howard said. “He was teaching me some things, terminology and stuff like that to get me prepared.”
In addition to Myrtle Beach, at least five other schools along the Grand Strand will also have boys volleyball in the fall, including North Myrtle Beach, Socastee, Conway, Carolina Forest and St. James.
