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After one year on the job, Roy Harden is moving to Missouri to be near his son and coach football.
By JOHN C. COTEY
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 28, 2001
Just a little more than a year after Wesley Chapel lost its first boys basketball coach, it has lost its second.
Roy Harden, who guided the Wildcats to a 16-12 record last season -- his first ever as a basketball coach -- is leaving the school to take a head football coaching job at Cameron High in Cameron, Mo. Harden's son, Matt, will be a freshman on the football team at nearby Missouri Valley College in Marshall, which is two hours away.
"Definitely the only reason I'm leaving is the chance to be a head (football) coach," Harden said. "This is the first opportunity I've had."
Harden also coached the offensive and defensive lines on the Wesley Chapel football team.
"That's a pretty good situation for him up there," football coach John Castelamare said. "Matthew's got a scholarship to play there and his mom's family is up there, too. I hate to see him go but it's good for him."
Harden, the former athletic director at Dixie County High, has been at Wesley Chapel since the school opened two years ago, working as an assistant football and track coach prior to taking over the basketball program.
Harden replaced Conrad Foss, who left to become an assistant coach at Saint Leo after one year.
Because he also coached the boys weightlifting team, Harden's departure adds to a growing list of vacancies on the sports staff, setting up a busy summer for new athletic director Annie McGhee.
McGhee said the athletic department is also looking to fill coaching positions for boys soccer after current coach James Hymiller was arrested Monday and accused of having oral sex with a 15-year-old.
There are also openings for junior varsity girls soccer and boys and girls cross country. Mike Macchiorola coached both cross country teams last fall but is teaching at another school and taking classes.
Junior varsity basketball coach Kent Mills will run Wesley Chapel's basketball camps this summer until a replacement for Harden is found.