In about 30 school days, the Wayne County Yellow Jackets will go through their 2017 spring football practice. However, it will be with a different coach than the one who started last season. Derek Chastain – who finished with a 3-8 season, including a 3-1 region record and a loss in the first round of the playoffs to Jones County – was forced out after one season and resigned in early March.
Wayne County opened the position and on March 21 announced that the Board of Education hired Bluffton High School head coach Ken Cribb at a special meeting. Cribb also had an opportunity to meet with community members, administration, student-athletes, parents, and teachers.
Cribb coached Bluffton’s last seven seasons and was the school’s longest serving coach. He stopped at Georgetown, South Florence, and Stall before he got to Bluffton, where he took over as head coach in 2010. Bluffton went through an amazing transition during Cribb’s time as head coach. The Bobcats had only mustered 18 wins under two different head coaches over six seasons before Cribb arrived. In Cribb’s first season with the Bobcats, they were 12-2.
The following season the Bobcats were 14-1 and lost in the state title game against South Pointe High School from Rock Hill, South Carolina, 42-17.
Cribb’s teams fared decently against Georgia schools when Bluffton crossed the Savannah River. The Bobcats struggled against Effingham and split in two games with South Effingham. Bluffton had large wins against Savannah Johnson and New Hampstead. Cribb’s Bobcats defeated Screven County in the Erk Russell Classic 35-25 at Paulson Stadium on the Georgia Southern University campus last fall. Wayne County shares its AAAAA region with South Effingham and New Hampstead.
During his time at Bluffton, Cribb was named the Hilton Head Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette Coach of the Year in 2010, in 2011, and last season during the 2016 campaign. The Bobcats finished the 2016 regular season with a perfect record and were 13-1 overall. Offensively, Bluffton had the highest scoring offense in the state of South Carolina with a record-setting average of 47.7 points per game.
Cribb coached several players that went on to play at the collegiate level, including Shameik Blackshear. Standing at 6’5” and 250 pounds, Blackshear was so dominant in high school that it earned him a four-star rating and scholarship offers from all over college football, but he accepted an offer from his home state of South Carolina. When then South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier signed him, he was considered the potential heir apparent to defensive end Javedon Clowney. Blackshear’s first two years at Carolina were tumultuous on and off the field, but Carolina coach Will Muschamp expects him to make a lot of progress this spring and believes he could be a starter in the fall.
Cribb finished his career at Bluffton with an overall record of 63-26, including one state championship runner-up, two semifinal appearances, and a playoff run in 2016 that reached the quarterfinals. He is 38th on the all-time win list in South Carolina with 196 wins. In addition to being the head football coach at Wayne County High School, he will also serve as the athletic director.
SE-SF-0417-Wayne County
By John Wood
Cribb Named New Football Coach
