David May decided to return to his alma mater of Pine Forest to take the job as varsity men’s basketball coach. He was shopping around for an assistant when he got a message from Barbara Poole, wife of Bernie Poole, the retired long-time head coach at Seventy-First.
For May, the decision was obvious. “I’ve known Bernie and Barbara forever,’’ he said. “She was my eighth grade teacher at Pine Forest Junior.’’
Poole and May coached against each other during Poole’s Seventy-First days when May was at Richmond Senior. Trying to put his new coaching staff at Pine Forest together, May said it was an easy decision to add Poole.
“Why not get somebody who has all that experience, a winning record and all that knowledge?’’ May said.
As for Poole, he’s continued to add to his resume since leaving Seventy-First, coaching in Jacksonville and most recently at Dixon High School before deciding to move back to Fayetteville.
“I still have the desire to coach,’’ Poole said. “I think it’s something I’ll do for as long as I can. It keeps me active and not sitting around all the time.’’
While the game has changed since Poole’s days at Seventy-First, he thinks today’s players are still coachable and that discipline can be enforced when needed.
May said the Pine Forest players have accepted Poole and are familiar with his reputation.
It also doesn’t hurt that one of the four tournament brackets for this year’s Holiday Classic is named for Poole. “They know he’s got to be something,’’ Poole said.
Holiday Classic
The dates for this year’s Holiday Classic are Dec. 19-21.
The four brackets are named for former county coaching greats, including Poole and Chuck Mohn for the boys and Latanya “Dee” Hardy and Brenda Jernigan for the girls.
Here are brief biographies of the four:
- Bernie Poole: Poole has more than 400 career wins, 300 of them coming during his stints coaching men’s and women’s basketball at Seventy-First. Poole’s teams won nine of the 11 Holiday Classics they played in.
- Chuck Mohn: Mohn spent 26 seasons at Pine Forest, posting 421 wins and earning eight conference or division titles. He was Coach of the Year eight times and sent 31 players to play college basketball.
- Brenda Jernigan: Jernigan was a star basketball player at old Central High School under the great Doris Howard. She was the first women’s basketball coach at South View and retired with 200 career wins. She was also an outstanding volleyball coach with nine straight conference titles and 48 consecutive conference wins.
- Latanya “Dee’’ Hardy: Hardy is a fixture at E.E. Smith as player and coach. She starred in volleyball and basketball there and at Pembroke State. She remains one of the top scorers in Pembroke history. She has guided her Smith women’s teams to multiple conference titles and earned a state 3-A women’s co-championship in the COVID year when the NCHSAA was unable to play the title game.
In addition to all 10 Cumberland County senior high schools, the following teams will be competing:
- Men: Hoke County, Fayetteville Christian.
- Women: Richmond Senior, Pender, Durham Academy, Hoke County.
Poole bracket games will be at Seventy-First, Mohn bracket at Terry Sanford, Jernigan bracket at Cape Fear and Hardy bracket at E.E. Smith.
On the final day, Dec. 21, consolation women’s games will be at E.E. Smith and Cape Fear. Men’s consolation games will be at Terry Sanford and Seventy-First.
Championship bracket games for the men and women on Dec. 21 will be at South View.
The following are links to the schedules for this year’s tournament:
To purchase tickets for the Holiday Classic, click
here or visit the Cumberland County Schools website. There will be no in-person ticket sales at the various game sites.
