CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 Toby Webb Coach of the Year Awards. The Toby Webb award recognizes two coaches annually, one male and one female. Amber Reddick from Freedom and Roy Cooper from Apex have been selected as this year’s winners.
Since 2006, the Toby Webb Coach of the Year Award seeks to recognize and honor coaches who have had an impact on the lives of student-athletes, and students in general, by encouraging them to succeed, helping to develop self-confidence, ambition, a sound work ethic, and other skills necessary for success in the students’ later lives. Consideration is also taken for coaches with a record of encouraging student-athletes to be well-rounded and display excellence in the areas of scholarship, citizenship, and music among many others.
Each recipient of the Toby Webb Coach of the Year Award is recognized at the NCHSAA’s Annual Meeting in Chapel Hill. They also receive a $2,000 cash award and a commemorative plaque.
AMBER REDDICK – FREEDOM HIGH SCHOOL – WOMEN’S BASKETBALL AND WOMEN’S TENNIS
Amber Reddick has been coaching at Freedom High School in Morganton for 17 years now. For the last 14 years she has piloted the Women’s Basketball Program, enjoying much success. Her women’s hoops teams have piled up five conference championships, made four regional appearances, and won a 3A State Championship in 2016. She has posted 20+ wins in each of the last 10 seasons, with first round playoff wins in each of the last 12 years. Reddick has been named conference coach of the year three times.
In addition to her success on the court, Coach Reddick has picked up the head coaching position for Women’s Tennis for the last two years. She has been named a District or regional Coach of the year, an NFHS State Coach of the Year Award winner and an Associated Press Coach of the year and was nominated for the MaxPreps National Coach of the Year Award by the NC Coaches Association. In her first 13 years as head coach at Freedom, she helped 15 athletes achieve their dreams of getting a scholarship to play basketball at the collegiate level.
Ali Ford played for Coach Reddick from 2005 until 2009 at Freedom and she said, “[Reddick] was always there for all her players but being the point guard, it seemed like I found myself in her classroom on a daily basis talking scouts and strategy. As I got older, the talks turned from being mostly about the game, to mostly about life, seeing the bigger picture to everything.
ROY COOPER – APEX HIGH SCHOOL – TRACK & CROSS COUNTRY
Roy Cooper has coached Track and Field and Cross Country for 33 years. The Apex High School Coach has served at the school since 1984 when he was hired as a teacher and Athletic Director. During his tenure he has also served as an assistant with the women’s basketball team and as the school’s first women’s soccer coach. Cooper became Head Coach of the Cross Country and Track and Field teams in 1985.
During his years with the Cougars, his teams have posted an overall record of 1136-318-1 while winning 46 Conference Championships and finishing top 10 in the State 59 times. He has State Championship participants in 94 consecutive seasons, spanning the fall with Cross Country, winters with Indoor Track and spring with Outdoor Track.
In addition to his athlete’s success on the track, Cooper has served as Regional or State Meet Director on 30 different occasions. He has also been the Meet Director for the Apex Lion’s Relays for the last 33 years. Cooper has worked at the National High School Outdoor Track and Field Championships the past 18 years, while serving at the National High School Cross Country Championships in each of the last 13 seasons.
Megan O’Donnell, an assistant coach with Coach Cooper at Apex, said, “The definition of a coach usually includes words such as ‘instruct, guide, lead, mentor, tutor’, and the best coaches perform most of these roles. [Cooper] performs these roles and so many more.” She continued, “Five years after coaching our daughter, Roy was offering words of encouragement to our son, despite him competing against Coach Cooper’s Apex High teams. Unlike our daughter, our son wasn’t always as committed to running, but being around Coach Cooper and the environment Roy helped foster, where it starts with the team and there is a bigger life purpose that ‘what’s in it for me?’, our son stuck with distance running. He went on to run in the 2011 Brooks PR Mile Invite and competes for UNC where he has developed into one of the top runners in the country.”
PAST RECIPIENTS
2006 – Hal Capps, Western Alamance & Carolyn Rogers, Perquimans
2007 – Patty Evers, East Bladen & Mickey Lineberger, South Point
2008 – Cindi Simmons, Smoky Mountain & Tom Evaul, Avery County
2009 – Vickie Peoples, Enloe & Norman Trzaskoma, R.J. Reynolds
2010 – Debra Philyaw, Jones & John Moon, Eastern Alamance
2011 – Zoe Bell, Ardrey Kell & Ray Horton, Pender
2012 – Sherry Norris, Chapel Hill & Terry Frazier, Roanoke Rapids
2013 – Sandra Martin, Providence & Eddie Rivers, Forest Hills
2014 – Wendy Gaines, Triton & Michael Gainey, Rocky Mount
2015 -Scott Braswell, Hoggard & Natalie Tribble, North Iredell
2016 – Darlene Joyner, Northwest Guilford & Johnny Sowell, Monroe
2017 – Sue Moon, North Henderson & John Gray, Charles E. Jordan