CHESNEE, SC - On Wednesday afternoon, Zach Baldinelli was officially named the new basketball coach at Chesnee High School as he was introduced to the community and his new players in a ceremony in the school's gymnasium.
Baldinelli comes to the Eagles program after serving a year as the lead assistant at his alma mater, Boiling Springs High School, this past year and coming off a four year college career at Limestone University. "It's an unbelievable feeling to be named the head coach at Chesnee High School," said Baldinelli. "Having the opportunity to get my first head coaching job at a school in District Two, a district I've loved so much growing up is special. To get that opportunity at a place like Chesnee that has such a special community is great and I'm overcome with emotion and excitement for this chance." After watching the Eagles in some games last year, he said that the tenacity that the team played with really helped in his decision to accept the position with the Eagles. "The first thing that stuck out to me about the Chesnee team was how hard they played last year no matter what the score was," said Baldinelli. "The were unselfish and tough which are things I'm going to preach for us to have as a team with this program, which means we're already a step ahead in that regard." He said he was also moved by the support the team received from the community at the games that he was in attendance. "I was moved by the support from the community," said Baldinelli. "There are a lot of Chesnee faithful that filled the stands and that's something I'm really looking forward to being a part of and the facilities are some of the best around in 2A." Baldinelli replaces former basketball coach Andy Pitt who resigned from the program earlier this year after a tough season last year. Pitt left the Eagles as the third all-time winning coach and the coach with the most playoff wins in school history. Baldinelli said he has a lot of respect for Pitt and what he built at Chesnee and hopes to build on the foundation that he established. "Coach Pitt and I have always had a great relationship over the years and I was given some advice a few years back that you never want to be the guy after the guy but I guess I guess I don't listen too well," said Baldinelli with a slight laugh. "I'm stepping into some big shoes but I know after him the kids understand what level of play we'll need to compete with every night. I hope that Coach Pitt will be a resource for me as there is a lot I can learn from him and if I can bring half the program that he did I'd look at it as a success. He advocated a lot for me and was my coach at North-South when I was still playing high school basketball and has shown me a great deal of mentorship. It's going to be tough but for me walking into such a well run program is going to be an advantage for me as I can step in and run with it from where it's already at." Pitt isn't the only person that Baldinelli has learned a lot from as he also took a lot from coaching under Craig Martin at Boiling Springs last year and from legendary coach Hal McManus who he played for at Boiling Springs. "There are enough words to describe what all Coach Martin has done for me but one thing is he allowed me to do a lot of the things a head coach has to do logistically last season to get a taste of what that's like," said Baldinelli. "Every little thing involved in being a head coach he threw me into the fire and let me handle so that I could be ready for this opportunity. The great things about Coach Martin are his consistency, the relationships, and the preparation as the kids knew what our standard was every game or practice and I've never seen a person prepare so much as him as he sometimes would take six days to prepare for just one practice. He also built such great relationships with the kids as they all love him." "As far as Coach McManus I learned a lot from him and I tend to have that same intensity on the sideline as someone joked last summer that I looked like a little Hal McManus coaching," said Baldinelli with a chuckle. "The intensity though comes from a passion as I'm very passionate about the game and that a team I coach plays at a certain standard. When the kids see my passion, they'll know I'm putting my all into this and will want to do the same themselves." When asked what type of team that Eagles fans should expect to see next season, Baldinelli said that they will see a high energy team. "I'm going to carry over the same approach that Coach Martin and I had at Boiling Springs last year," said Baldinelli. "We want to play extremely fast and it's going to be a show every time we step on the court as we want to score a lot of easy baskets in transition. We want to get in people's faces and guard man-to-man in the full court. We want to be tough and together on the court." Baldinelli said that he's well aware of the competition his team will be facing in region but says that doesn't scare him because the Eagles are coming to compete each night. "Every single night you're going against someone tough as the coaches in this region are tough," said Baldinelli. "We're going to have to do some high level scouting but we're going to come after each one of these programs with our heads down. While we respect what they've done, the Chesnee Eagles are coming. We're going to be a tough team for our opponents each time we hit the court." When asked what the Chesnee community needed to know about him, Baldinelli said that he had two things he wanted the community to know. "I want the people of the Chesnee community to know that just because my name has the title of head coach that it's not my program but that it's our program as a community," said Baldinelli. "The community has to buy in, which I think they will, along with the kids, students, faculty, and staff. This program is all of ours and if we buy in as a community we're going to be extremely successful." "They'll also learn very quickly that my job with these kids is a lifetime investment," said Baldinelli. "I'm going to pour into these kids at the youth levels before they play for four years at the high school level and hopefully at the college level before coaching their kids in future years. My job is much bigger than basketball and I want to develop good men which will take a whole community to accomplish that." Baldinelli said that while he's had the job just for a few short days that there is a lot of interest from people around the area about joining his coaching staff and he thinks that fans will be really impressed with the names they'll be looking to add to the coaching staff in the next few weeks. CHESNEE, SC - The Chesnee Eagles golf team held a match at their home course of Meadowbrook Golf Course on Tuesday afternoon and came away with a victory over three different local teams to continue their strong play in 2023.
The Eagles shot a team score of 170 to win the event which was ahead of Broome (179), Union County (182) and Landrum (200). Chesnee was led by Creighton Rentz and Peyton Lawter who were both co-medalists with a score of 37. "Creighton and Peyton had a nice day for us and really set the tone," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "We backed up and played from the tees today to begin preparations for the postseason. We still have work to do as a team, but we are heading in the right direction." Alex Weathers (42) from Broome and Mason Russell (43) from Union County were the next closest scores to Rentz and Lawter as they were only within five and six shots of the co-medalists. The match was the first for the Eagles since coming back from the school's spring break and Coach Pitt was happy to see his team able to knock the rust off and grab a victory. "It was good for us to be able to get wins while shaking off the rust from spring break as well," said Pitt. Chesnee will next compete in the Ponderosa Shootout on Tuesday at the Ponderosa Country Club in Batesburg-Leesville, SC. |
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