Interim Head Coach Joanna Tincher has announced the hiring of Cole Birchfield as an Assistant Coach.
“When I made a list of what I needed in an assistant I realized the person who checked all of the boxes was right next to me,” Tincher stated.
“After speaking with [head men’s basketball] Coach [Dave] Davis, who gave me some insight into how much initiative Cole had already displayed while working with his program, I knew he would be a great fit for our program. I am fortunate to have someone with Cole’s integrity and work ethic alongside of me and inspiring this fantastic group of young women.”
Tincher did not have to look far to find Birchfield, who had joined the men’s basketball staff in June in a volunteer assistant role. The former Newberry player spent the summer working men’s basketball camps at both Newberry and Alabama. His roles with the Newberry men’s program centered on on-court coaching and recruiting before he shifted to his current role.
“I would first like to thank Coach Tincher for the opportunity to join her staff,” Birchfield said.” Getting to work alongside a person like Joanna in a place like Newberry is a blessing. I am extremely excited to be a part of the women’s basketball staff here at Newberry College. This program has traditionally been very competitive within the South Atlantic Conference and I cannot wait to get started.
“I would also like to thank Coach Dave Davis for the chance to join his staff back in June as a volunteer assistant. His willingness to help me get my foot in the door in college coaching cannot be understated and I appreciate that greatly.”
Birchfield spent last season on staff at Higdon, Alabama’s North Sand Mountain High School. He served as an assistant coach with the varsity team while taking the head role with both the freshman and junior high teams. He was in charge of skill development, in-game substitutions, and helped to create scouting reports for the varsity program, where he helped head coach Cole Hicks engineer a 10-game turnaround from the previous season and an overall 11-10 record.
Prior to his coaching experience, Birchfield spent two years as a personal trainer, where he worked primarily with junior college basketball and softball players on strength, technique, footwork, and speed. He also spent five summers as a camp leader at Dade County High School’s kid’s camps and high school team camps both leading drills and refereeing games.
Birchfield played the 2013-14 season in Scarlet and Gray. He was the team’s fourth-leading scorer as a true freshman, averaging 8.4 points per game and firing at a 40.2 percent clip from the field while playing in all 28 games. He attained his season high of 19 points in the regular season finale against Carson-Newman and reached double figures 10 times. He completed his career at Shorter, playing in 72 games and averaging 6.1 points per contest while shooting 41.0 percent.
Photo Courtesy Newberry Athletics
https://newberrywolves.com/news/2018/9/19/womens-basketball-birchfield-joins-tinchers-staff.aspx
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