Menu

Steve Luck

SteveLuck

Former Asheboro AD takes conference role

, , ,

ASHEBORO – Steve Luck didn’t stay away from high school athletics for long.

The former Asheboro High School athletics director is the new commissioner of the Mid-Piedmont Conference.

“Those ADs in the Mid-Piedmont know me and I know them,” Luck said. “I’m working with six ADs and those guys are good at what they do.”

Luck replaces long-time commissioner Charlie Chapman, who reduced his workload and yet remains commissioner of the Piedmont Athletic Conference.

Luck retired from Asheboro in the spring. Yet he remained an interested observer of the Blue Comets as his son, sophomore Ben Luck, is a participant in the football, basketball and baseball programs.

“It’s a way to stay involved,” Steve Luck said. “I’ll jump right in.”

With roles in two conferences it became a juggling act for Chapman, particularly near the end of a sports season when all-conference selections were being made, league tournaments taking place and state playoffs approaching. He said this should lessen his workload.

Chapman is a long-time coach at Southwestern Randolph, which is a PAC member. He’s an assistant coach for football and softball at the school.

Chapman has aided in the transition. He said he can serve as a consultant to Luck.

“With Charlie’s tutelage, I think I’ll be OK,” Luck said.

Because of his recent role with Asheboro, Luck said he’s familiar with the scheduling models used in the Mid-Piedmont Conference.

Asheboro’s volleyball team went on a recent pause because of COVD-19 cases. Luck said he’s not aware of any similar issues impacting any other teams within the Mid-Piedmont Conference.

“As long as they get the conference (competitions) in, that’s what matters,” Luck said.

Luck, a 1985 Asheboro graduate, is also involved with the organization of a youth football program in Asheboro. The grassroots program fields teams in 6-and-under, 8-and-under and 10-and-under divisions, something he said he hopes can build a stronger foundation for the sport in the city. He sees those teams serving as a feeder program for the teams in the school district.

Wes Berrier Asheboro AD August 2022

New Asheboro AD sees grand potential, calls Blue Comets ‘a sleeping giant’

, , , , ,

Wes Berrier, the new athletics director for Asheboro High School, checks out the first day of football practice last week. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

ASHEBORO – Wes Berrier’s view of athletics at Asheboro High School is one of great potential. He’d like to see the Blue Comets’ programs return to prominence.

“A sleeping giant,” the new athletics director said. “I feel I’m coming in at a great time. I’m expecting big things as far as our athletics.”

Berrier officially became the athletics director this summer, though he filled that role for the final couple of months of the 2021-22 school year upon the retirement of Steve Luck.

Berrier had been Asheboro’s wrestling coach until taking this new assignment. He remains a business teacher at the high school.

It has been a turbulent time for Asheboro athletics because of an ongoing campus construction project that has displaced most of the teams. They’ve been without the simply comforts of team locker rooms. Some of the challenges that existed in 2021-22 will remain at least for a few more months.

“Just being out of the school has made it tough for everybody. Kids like a routine,” Berrier said. “We’ve made it work. It hasn’t been fun. Things are going to be better.”

For 2021-22, Asheboro finished fifth out of six schools in the Mid-Piedmont Conference in the Wells Fargo Cup standings that gives an indication of overall ranking of each school’s teams for a school year.

“I think the morale will be improved where we can turn this ship around,” Berrier said. “Get everything built back up.”

Berrier, who turned 54 this summer, said it’s important to have a bridge between the high school and community. Among his goals is to help build a stronger booster club.

He said he has been encouraged by interest in the incoming freshman class with up 150 potential athletes coming into the high school. He oversaw a physical night for the newcomers and a session where middle schoolers were able to meet coaches across the athletics department.

Berrier had to step down as wrestling coach because of the city school district’s policy that prevents the athletics director from being a head coach.

The new AD’s son, Jake Berrier, will move from assistant coach to head coach for the wrestling team.

“He’s definitely ready for it,” his father said.

In Wes Berrier’s eight seasons as wrestling coach, the Blue Comets had eight state championships (7 male, 1 female) earned to go with 13 total state place finishes. During the past season, nine Blue Comets received All-Mid-Piedmont Conference honors and Berrier was the league’s Coach of the Year.

Because of the uncertainty of the on-campus facilities, Asheboro withdrew its bid to be the host school for a Class 3-A wrestling regional in 2023.

SteveLuck

Luck retires from roles at AHS

,

ASHEBORO — Steve Luck has retired as athletics director and a teacher from Asheboro High School, where he served in various roles for nearly 25 years.

He became the AD in 2013.

“The thing that I’m proud of the most is the work in the classroom,” Luck said. “That’s what paid the bills.”

He stepped aside at the end of April. The following week, he began a job as a maintenance manager for Source Properties.

“It was a good run,” he said. 

Wrestling coach Wes Berrier will formally become the AD this summer.

Luck, a 1985 AHS graduate, attended North Carolina State, spent four years in active duty with the Air Force and two years in the reserves. Aside from a degree from N.C. State, he later earned a master’s degree related to administrative work from High Point University.

Luck spent from 1993-98 at Lee County, serving on football and wrestling staffs. Then he took a teaching job at AHS in 1998.

“When I graduated from AHS, I never thought I would return,” he said.

Mike Warren, who was principal at AHS, offered him a position and he ended up sticking around. He became Asheboro’s cross country and wrestling coach and also served stints in the baseball program as junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach.

He’ll continue to be on the scene in many ways. The youngest of his three sons, Ben Luck, is finishing his freshman year at the school, where he plays basketball and baseball.

Steve Luck said his teaching position in American history was vital because “it helped me manage my time a little better” in relationship to the AD responsibilities. He said with growing sports offerings at the school it pulled his commitments in various directions.

He said his wife, Mary, supported his coaching and AD roles, putting up with late-night arrivals home and him being away on many weekends.

Luck was particularly fond of the relationship with the City of Asheboro, which he said is critical to assisting the school system. He thanked the city council during a meeting last week.

That connection to the city has been especially important this school year as renovation projects on campus has meant that many of the teams have held competitions and practices at various venues in the city.

“I don’t know of another city that helps out their high school the way that Asheboro does,” Luck said. “It has been very tough this year and the way the city helped has been fantastic for the school.”