VIRGINIA BEACH — Two months ago, Kempsville High made unflattering news when it shut down its varsity baseball season early after a lengthy investigation found that “racism, hate speech and harassment” was prevalent on the team for multiple years.
On Tuesday evening, the program took a step in the right direction.
With an auditorium filled with prospective baseball players and their parents in attendance, Kempsville’s administration took the first step in healing when they introduced Luke Stice as the program’s new coach. He replaces John Penn, who is no longer with the school.
Kempsville student activities coordinator Zach Wolff, who got the job in June, knew changing coaches was going to be his first major decision.
“I knew this was something that we had to do,” he said. “We took our time with it because we knew we wanted to get the decision right. That was more important than anything else, is making sure we made the right decision. And the selection committee, we are very confident that we did. We’re real happy to have Coach Stice.”
What sold Wolff on Stice was how he addressed the issues head-on and didn’t waver, unlike others.
“I knew we had to find the right person to meet the moment,” Wolff said. “We needed a person to rebuild the culture to lead the program through a process of rebuilding trust with the community, the school and with each other.”
Stice, who was the Chiefs’ head junior-varsity coach the past two seasons, said he knew addressing the issue was the only way.
“Just being first-hand in the situation and seeing the impact that it had on the boys really drove me to say, ‘This is really screwed up,'” he said. “I just kept communicating with them the whole time, keeping that door of communication open with them and letting them know that I’m here for them.
“The players on the JV team also faced some challenges to deal with once the news came out. I knew from that moment, if anything changes (regarding a coaching opening), I will be the man for this job.”
Kempsville pitcher/outfielder TJ Davis was on hand for the introduction. Davis, who is Black, said he believes in Stice, who is white.
“I’m very excited to see what he brings to the team and how he creates bonds with all the players and brings us together,” said Davis, a rising senior. “I feel like he really wants for the program to do better.”
Kempsville principal Melissa George said the committee made the right decision with the hiring of Stice.
“It’s like a weight lifted off because I know there is someone I can trust that’s going to come in and have the best interest of this team,” she said. “He said he wants to heal the team and build culture. The wins will come after that.”
Stice is ready for the challenge, but he knows it will take time.
“I’m not going to put a timeline on it. It could be a year, it could be five years. I don’t know how long it will take,” he said. “But with (the administration’s) support, I know we’ll get the culture right.”
Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com
