Rigsbee becomes new KVA baseball coach
By Brandon White bwhite@hendersondispatch.com; 252-436-2840
Feb 2, 2021 Updated 10 hrs ago
HENDERSON — Kerr-Vance Academy assistant baseball coach Mike Rigsbee will take over head coaching responsibilities for the program following the retirement of Todd Wilkerson last week, who led the team to three consecutive NCISAA 1A Championships.
With so much prestige surrounding the program, Rigsbee knows it will not be an easy task replacing Wilkerson as the head, but he has developed solid relationships with players during his tenure as an assistant and is ready to continue KVA’s efficiency in baseball.
“Todd and I have been good friends for a long time,” Rigsbee said. “He asked me to help him out with the baseball team about five years ago and it’s been really fun to know all of the kids that have come through here over the years.”
Rigsbee got his start in baseball at Millbrook High School before attending Louisburg College, where he played for two years. Rigsbee transferred from Louisburg following the 1989 season and finished the last two seasons of his collegiate career at Atlantic Christian College, which is now known as Barton College.
After graduating, Rigsbee briefly coached alongside his college roommate Jeff Tate for one year, who would go on to coach baseball at Northern Vance for several years. Rigsbee then taught his son Tanner about the fundamentals of baseball, but he was asked by Wilkerson to join his coaching staff once Tanner began attending KVA.
Although Rigsbee was initially unsure if he could balance out his day job with coaching high school baseball, he has become an integral part of the culture established by Wilkerson that developed the talents of many great players and helped transformed KVA into a perennial championship contender during the 2010s
“It’s been a pleasure working with Todd,” Rigsbee said. “Both of his boys are good kids along with everyone else that I coached. All of the titles we won were special in their own ways, but I owe it to the kids and their parents for believing in a small school like KVA.”
KVA athletic director George Hoyle Jr. said it was an easy decision to hire Rigsbee as Wilkerson’s replacement due to the amount of knowledge and experience he has with baseball, as well as the existing relationships he has with the current group of players on the roster.
“Mike is from this area and he knows our guys,” Hoyle said. “Our players love him and he has a great personality that makes him a great leader. Being able to hire somebody from within the program is really important because he knows what the players expect in order to maintain the level of excellence from the past few years.”
While state championships are important to Hoyle, he said that the main objective for any coach at KVA is to build their players into model citizens on and off the field. Hoyle said that Wilkerson accomplished that goal with ease and does not have any doubts in Rigsbee’s ability to do the same.
Even though KVA enters the 2021 season as defending NCISAA 1A champions from 2019, Hoyle is not anticipating anything to come easy for the program, but he is looking forward to watching Rigsbee carry on the proud tradition of success at KVA as they try to pursue a fourth consecutive title.
“Some of the top 2A schools are in our conference, so winning that is a great goal,” Hoyle said. “We’d love to make another deep run in the playoffs, but we want to make sure all of our guys have a great season. The sky is the limit with this group and I think a lot of people have high expectations this year.”
Rigsbee said that the core of KVA’s efficiency in 2021 will come down to the experienced players on the roster like seniors Michael Holtzman and R.J. Johnson, the latter of which recently signed his letter of intent to play for Appalachian St. in 2022. Rigsbee also expects stellar campaigns from the rest of his senior class in Chance Murphy, Joel Lewis and Coleman Merritt.
Although KVA is nearly two years removed from a full-time baseball season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rigsbee knows that the program is still capable of competing at the highest level and is ready to add another championship banner inside KVA’s gymnasium by the end of spring.
“We want to develop these kids,” Rigsbee said. “Our school does that from an academic standpoint, but we do like to win. We’re used to it and we want to keep it going,and we’ve got plenty of great kids still left that can help us do that.”
Rigsbee’s first game as KVA’s head coach will take place in March.
By Brandon White bwhite@hendersondispatch.com; 252-436-2840
Feb 2, 2021 Updated 10 hrs ago
HENDERSON — Kerr-Vance Academy assistant baseball coach Mike Rigsbee will take over head coaching responsibilities for the program following the retirement of Todd Wilkerson last week, who led the team to three consecutive NCISAA 1A Championships.
With so much prestige surrounding the program, Rigsbee knows it will not be an easy task replacing Wilkerson as the head, but he has developed solid relationships with players during his tenure as an assistant and is ready to continue KVA’s efficiency in baseball.
“Todd and I have been good friends for a long time,” Rigsbee said. “He asked me to help him out with the baseball team about five years ago and it’s been really fun to know all of the kids that have come through here over the years.”
Rigsbee got his start in baseball at Millbrook High School before attending Louisburg College, where he played for two years. Rigsbee transferred from Louisburg following the 1989 season and finished the last two seasons of his collegiate career at Atlantic Christian College, which is now known as Barton College.
After graduating, Rigsbee briefly coached alongside his college roommate Jeff Tate for one year, who would go on to coach baseball at Northern Vance for several years. Rigsbee then taught his son Tanner about the fundamentals of baseball, but he was asked by Wilkerson to join his coaching staff once Tanner began attending KVA.
Although Rigsbee was initially unsure if he could balance out his day job with coaching high school baseball, he has become an integral part of the culture established by Wilkerson that developed the talents of many great players and helped transformed KVA into a perennial championship contender during the 2010s
“It’s been a pleasure working with Todd,” Rigsbee said. “Both of his boys are good kids along with everyone else that I coached. All of the titles we won were special in their own ways, but I owe it to the kids and their parents for believing in a small school like KVA.”
KVA athletic director George Hoyle Jr. said it was an easy decision to hire Rigsbee as Wilkerson’s replacement due to the amount of knowledge and experience he has with baseball, as well as the existing relationships he has with the current group of players on the roster.
“Mike is from this area and he knows our guys,” Hoyle said. “Our players love him and he has a great personality that makes him a great leader. Being able to hire somebody from within the program is really important because he knows what the players expect in order to maintain the level of excellence from the past few years.”
While state championships are important to Hoyle, he said that the main objective for any coach at KVA is to build their players into model citizens on and off the field. Hoyle said that Wilkerson accomplished that goal with ease and does not have any doubts in Rigsbee’s ability to do the same.
Even though KVA enters the 2021 season as defending NCISAA 1A champions from 2019, Hoyle is not anticipating anything to come easy for the program, but he is looking forward to watching Rigsbee carry on the proud tradition of success at KVA as they try to pursue a fourth consecutive title.
“Some of the top 2A schools are in our conference, so winning that is a great goal,” Hoyle said. “We’d love to make another deep run in the playoffs, but we want to make sure all of our guys have a great season. The sky is the limit with this group and I think a lot of people have high expectations this year.”
Rigsbee said that the core of KVA’s efficiency in 2021 will come down to the experienced players on the roster like seniors Michael Holtzman and R.J. Johnson, the latter of which recently signed his letter of intent to play for Appalachian St. in 2022. Rigsbee also expects stellar campaigns from the rest of his senior class in Chance Murphy, Joel Lewis and Coleman Merritt.
Although KVA is nearly two years removed from a full-time baseball season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rigsbee knows that the program is still capable of competing at the highest level and is ready to add another championship banner inside KVA’s gymnasium by the end of spring.
“We want to develop these kids,” Rigsbee said. “Our school does that from an academic standpoint, but we do like to win. We’re used to it and we want to keep it going,and we’ve got plenty of great kids still left that can help us do that.”
Rigsbee’s first game as KVA’s head coach will take place in March.
