A couple of strong Albemarle County girls athletic programs are undergoing coaching changes.
Monticello’s volleyball coach John Mitchem, who oversaw a rework and massive improvement of the program that made the Mustangs a big factor in Jefferson District play, is stepping aside. Mitchem’s wife was recently tabbed as the Director of Special Education for Colonial Beach Public Schools and Mitchem will now be teaching health and physical education in that system.
According to athletic director Fitzgerald Barnes, the Mustangs will conduct a full search to find a new head coach for the program.
Albemarle’s girls soccer, the reigning Commonwealth District champions, had a slightly easier time replacing their own departing coach. Former lead assistant coach Amy Sherrill will move just a few steps over to take the helm of the squad from Jon Hall, who announced his retirement after the Patriots’ season ended in the Northwest Region tournament.
Sherrill is a physical education and health teacher at Albemarle who’s served in a variety of assistant coach roles in various sports for the Patriots, including two years as a varsity assistant soccer coach under Hall.
