New Halifax County High School Head Football Coach Grayson Throckmorton can now breathe a little easier. Throckmorton said Monday Halifax County School Board members finalized appointments to remaining open coaching spots last week, a move that cemented a full 10-person coaching staff to cover both the varsity and junior varsity teams.

Several familiar faces are returning to the Comets coaching staff this season including linebackers and assistant offensive line coach Fred Palmore, Jay Cole who will serve as co-defensive coordinator and offensive and defensive line coach, Stanley Brandon who will coach defensive backs and primarily work with safeties and Thomas Crews who will be the wide receivers coach and assistant defensive line coach.

Also returning to the coaching staff are Eugene Turbeville who will serve as JV head coach and JV defensive coordinator, and Kwame Lambert who will serve as JV offensive coordinator and offensive backs coach.

New to the Comets football staff this season is Dave Hale who comes to Halifax County high School from Bluestone High School. Hale will serve as co-defensive coordinator with Cole and will coach safeties and defensive backs.

Also new is former Halifax County High School offensive and defensive line standout Terence Brandon who went on to play football at Averett University. He will serve as JV offensive and defensive line coach.

The third new face on the Comets coaching staff is Chris DeJarnette, who served as a volunteer assistant coach at Halifax County Middle School last season. DeJarnette is a Gretna High School graduate and played on two of Gretna High Schools state championship football teams before continuing his playing career at UVA-Wise.

The dust is starting to settle a little bit because we now have the staff finished, Throckmorton remarked.

Thats not only work on my part, its work on the part of our athletic director (Allen Lawter), our principal (Michael Lewis) and administration trying to find jobs for people to come in and coach football.

Throckmorton says he has a good mix of people on the staff who bring a variety of knowledge and experience to the Comets football program.

Everybody we have on staff brings something to the table that is more than just being a football coach, Throckmorton pointed out.

One of our new hires, Terence Brandon, is a youth counselor out of Danville. He brings in not only the ability to coach offensive and defensive line, which is what he played at Averett University and at Halifax County High School, he brings in the ability to work with our youngsters who may need some help here and there with behavior and other crises they may be going through.

Another new hire we have, Dave Hale, has coached at several different schools and brings to the table having been a guidance counselor for nine years and the understanding of what the guys need to take in classes, the SATs, all of the qualifiers they have to meet to get into college and qualify for the next level, Throckmorton added.

All of our guys bring something to the table that is really good, and with the help from the administration of being able to offer these people jobs, we have been able to fill our 10-man staff with some very qualified folks, and I feel really good about that.

Counting today, only four summer workout sessions remain for the approximately 40 players that have regularly attended off-season workouts throughout the spring and summer. A football clinic for youngsters of all ages is scheduled Monday, July 31 and Tuesday, August 1, with the first day of what Throckmorton is calling football camp, set for Wednesday, August 2.

While the completion of filling the Comets football coaching staff came at this late date, Throckmorton says there is no panic regarding pre-season preparations.

There is a natural feeling that you are a little bit behind, Throckmorton remarked, but I havent felt like weve been behind. Before we got everyone in place, we went ahead with installing our overall system (of offense and defense). I was putting that in and working with some positions and things I normally wouldnt coach. I was pulling that slack until we hired someone to take those reigns over.

Weve got the system going with what we want to do with regard to Xs and Os and the understanding of that, Throckmorton continued.

Really, were going to be kind of on an equal page with the defense and offense being together going into camp. In that aspect, the transition has been pretty smooth. Everything is falling together about the best it possibly could.

Next year, Throckmorton added, we will be more ahead of the curve because I will have been in the building for a year and the staff will have been in place and we wont have to go through this again.

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Comets football staff filled - YourGV.com