Midlands Baseball Coaching Carousel Reshapes Four Programs

One coaching move set off a chain reaction across Midlands high school baseball this offseason.

When legendary A.C. Flora coach Andy Hallett, an eight-time champion, accepted the head baseball coach and athletic director position at newly established Midlands STEM, it created a vacancy that ultimately led to four coaching changes across some of the area's most successful programs.

Here are the list of head coaching changes:

Andy Hallett Begins a New Chapter

Old School: A.C. Flora, New School: Midlands Stem

The longtime Falcons’ head coach capped his 29th season at the helm with an eighth state championship. A.C. Flora swept defending Class 4A champion Airport to send off Hallett as a champion.

Prior to the start of the post-season, he had announced plans to leave A.C. Flora to become the head baseball coach/athletics director at fledgling Midlands Stem in Winnsboro.

“AC Flora baseball will continue to be strong. I know they will hire someone who will be a professional and keep it moving. I am really proud of what we have done and honored to be the baseball coach at AC Flora for 29 years. It is something that I will never forget.”

A.C. Flora Turns to Proven Winner Travis Poole

Old School: Blythewood. New School: A.C. Flora

Blythewood, A.C. Flora, baseball — Travis Poole | Blythewood High School

The Falcons didn't have to look far for Hallett's successor.

Poole comes over from Blythewood where he went 70-21 and won region titles in each of his three seasons. Like Hallett, Poole has more than 500 career victories and multiple titles that mostly occurred during a Hall of Fame career in North Carolina.

“I’ve been fortunate to have been around teams that have had success and going to a team that has had success is probably easier than going into a job where there is a lot of cleanup to do,” Poole said in media reports. “If it’s not broke, don’t try to fix it. I know there are some things Coach Hallett did there that work and I’m not going to try to change that. I’ll just make the adjustment because it’s easier for one to make an adjustment than the whole team.

“I want to keep some things in place because that’s what they are used to. I’ll have to wait until I get there and get around the kids every day and figure out what that is. I believe Andy said it best in an interview that every year your club is different, and I think it’s our job as coaches to figure out what we have to do for this club to be successful.”

Dolan Crolley Returns to Blythewood

Old School: White Knoll. New School: Blythewood

baseball, White Knoll, Blythewood — Dolan Crolley | White Knoll High School

Blythewood turned to a familiar face, rehiring former interim head coach Dolan Crolley.

Crolley replaced Banks Faulkner after he accepted at Newberry College and proceeded to lead Blythewood to a Class 5A runner-up finish.

“It helps tremendously coming into a program that has had as much success as Blythewood has had, frankly, since it’s been a school,” Crolley told The Columbia Star. “It’s been a constant. The expectation is to compete at a high level and do things the right way. That’s all they know. We’re going to try to raise the bar and take something that’s well-tuned and make some adjustments that I see fit and see what happens.”

Following a year as Lugoff-Elgin assistant coach, Crolley took over at White Knoll in 2024.

He led the Timberwolves to two straight playoff appearances and their 5-5 record in the ultra-competitive Region IV-5A (now Region III-5A) this past season was the team’s best showing in a decade.

“I’m most proud that within the two years I was there, I was able to take a group of guys who wanted to win but didn’t know how, and we won some," Crolley told The Columbia Star. "I’m not saying we won a ton of games, but we did a good job bringing the guys back into competing no matter who the opponent was. We won five games in region, which the last time they did that was 2016, 2017. They are set up for success next year.”

Blythewood will now compete in the revamped Region IV-5A with Gray Collegiate, Ridge View, Spring Valley and Sumter.

Tim Perry Returns to the High School Game

Old School: Winthrop University assistant coach. New School: White Knoll

Perry, White Knoll — New White Knoll head coach Tim Perry speaks to his players. | Thomas Grant Jr.

When White Knoll began searching for its next head coach, athletic director Shane Fidler quickly identified Tim Perry as the ideal candidate.

Having previously served as Airport AD, he was cognizant of Tim Perry’s credentials. As Eagles’ head coach for 10 seasons, Perry was 165-95-2, won four region titles and led the Eagles to state runner-up appearances in 2013 and 2018.

After spending the past eight years in college as an assistant for Coastal Carolina and Winthrop, Perry was eager for a return to high school baseball.

Perry also welcomed the opportunity to compete in one of South Carolina's toughest baseball regions. Since 2019, teams from Region IV-5A (now Region III) have combined for four state titles.

While Knoll won its last state title in 2010. Perry’s mission is now to make the Timberwolves competitive again versus its closest in-county and neighboring rivals.

“This position appealed to me because it’s close to home,” he said. “We live here in Lexington and so, it’s almost the second-closest school to my house. I watched a lot of games in this region and so the opportunity to coach in the best region in Class 5A baseball certainly appealed to me.”

With four established coaches taking over successful programs, the Midlands baseball landscape will have a different look in 2027, but expectations for winning remain unchanged.

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