CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) –Kirkwood High School introduced five additional coaches to their athletic department on Tuesday.
The CMCSS member school welcomed Mark McNiel and Lynda Courtney as their new cross-country coaches and Shayla Smith as their new volleyball coach to open up the evening at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
After an hour of introductions, Kirkwood went on to announce Christopher Carney as the new girls’ basketball coach and John Stigall as the boys’ basketball coach.
Kirkwood Cross Country
Mark McNiel has been a longtime teacher and cross-country coach throughout Montgomery County. He is slated to become Kirkwood’s new boys’ cross-country coach for the 2023-24 season.
According to Kirkwood High Principal Jesscia Peppard, McNiel kicked off his coaching career while he was still working on his degree at Austin Peay State University. He became an assistant coach for APSU’s cross-country team as well as their track and field team.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in science in education, McNiel went on to coach at Northeast High and most recently at Rossview Middle School.
In addition, McNiel has been teaching at Kirkwood Middle School since the beginning of the 2022 school year.
Kirkwood Girls’ Cross Country
Meanwhile, Lynda Courtney will not only serve as the head coach for Kirkwood High girls’ cross country but also as an assistant athletic director.
Courtney is headed to Kirkwood High after spending 10 years at Kenwood High as a teacher and coach. Over the past year, she had also served as an assistant athletics coach with the Knights.
According to Kirkwood High Principal Jesscia Peppard, Courtney originally got into coaching after graduating from Austin Peay State University with her master’s.
Kenwood hired her during the 2013 season, and she spent 10 years coaching the Knights volleyball program. During their most recent season, Courtney received Coach of the Year honors for her accomplishments on and off the court.
During her professional career, Courtney has also taught at Rossview High School and Kenwood High School.
Kirkwood Volleyball
Kirkwood High is bringing in Shayla Smith as their next head volleyball coach because of her experience as a player and coach. According to Kirkwood High Principal Jesscia Peppard, Smith graduated from West Creek High School as a member of the class of 2015.
After high school, she went on to attend institutions such as Bethel University, Truett McConnell University and Georgia Southern University. During her college career, Smith was a member of the all-freshmen team, a two-time all-conference first team, an all-regional honorable mention and she finished her career with 1,000 career kills.
After her time as a student-athlete came to an end, she went into coaching club volleyball at various levels. She served as a club volleyball coach in Georgia for the Atlanta Extreme Volleyball Academy and the Club Savannah Volleyball Club.
Smith also served as the head volleyball coach for Hancock Day School and as an assistant coach for West Creek High volleyball.
Kirkwood Basketball
After introducing their cross country and volleyball coaches for the 2023–24 school year, Kirkwood moved on to announce the hires of their basketball coaches.
Christopher Carney was brought in to lead the school’s girls’ basketball program. Carney was another candidate who was selected for his experience as a player and a coach.
According to Kirkwood High Principal Jesscia Peppard, after playing for Maryville College’s men’s basketball program from 2006 to 2009, Carney joined the staff as a student assistant the following year.
After his role as a student assistant for his alma mater, Carney served as an assistant coach for Kenwood High boys’ basketball. He eventually received his first high school coaching position two years later with Portland High’s boys’ basketball.
Since then, he’s served as head coach for the following other programs: Wilson Central High boys’ basketball, Mount Pleasant High boys’ basketball, and he most recently spent time leading the Camden High girls’ basketball team.
Kirkwood boys’ basketball
John Stigall was introduced as Kirkwood’s new boys’ basketball coach. Stigall returns to Clarksville after coaching Todd County Central in Kentucky this past season.
He has been coaching basketball since 2003, when he was an assistant coach at Crockett County High. After one season, he made the transition into his first head coaching job at West Carroll High.
Stigall went on to coach Cheatham County boys’ basketball before making his way to Clarksville for the first time. From 2008 to 2014, he coached Kenwood High. During that time span, Stigall became the all-time winningest coach in program history.
A few years after departing from Kenwood, Stigall decided to become the head coach at Northeast, where he had just as much success. In three seasons with the team, he compiled a record of 74-28.
Stigall also spent time as an assistant coach for Northwest High during the 2020–21 season.