Mike Neal didn’t know what to expect when he returned as Kingston High School’s golf coach for the 2019 season.
He’d been away from the position for 10 years.
“I had no idea what I was getting into,” Neal said. “I knew the kids. I’d seen maybe one of them play (Colby Johnson) because I was always around the golf course (Lakeside in Kingston). I had no idea what I had.”
What he had was a boys’ team that finished runner-up to Signal Mountain in the Division I Class Small state tournament Oct. 8-9 at Willowbrook Golf Club in Manchester.
It wasn’t Neal’s first trip to state as a Kingston coach.
The 1992 graduate and former golfer at Kingston played a year at Cleveland State, and served five years as an assistant pro at Tellico Village. He started coaching at his alma mater as an assistant golf coach in 1997 when Kingston finished third at state.
Neal was an assistant on the 1998 team under Wayne Everett when Kingston was Class A/AA state runner-up, and the next the next two years was an assistant under Jay Walker when the Yellow Jackets won back-to-back state titles (1999-2000).
Neal took over as head coach in 2002, and the Yellow Jackets finished third at state. Kingston’s golf team didn’t return to state again until this fall.
“We hadn’t been back in 17 years,” said Neal, the 2019 5Star Preps Coach of the Year.
Neal coached Kingston’s golf teams until 2009 when it was time to take a break.
From coaching golf, at least.
Neal was still an assistant football coach at Oliver Springs and head baseball coach of the middle school team.
His return as Kingston’s golf coach was prompted by parents, and later by a meeting with one of his former players, Colt Narramore, Kingston’s athletic director, about the open position for the 2019 season.
“I had some parents talk to me about coming back and coaching,” Neal said. “When the position came open, Coach Narramore, he played for me on the state championship teams, we got together and talked, and I came back.”
— KingstonGolf (@Kingstongolf19) September 30, 2019
His 2019 boys team consisted of three seniors – Dawson Lane, Jesse Griffey, and Ben Mullis – along with freshman Blake Woody and Johnson, a sophomore.
The team’s scoring balance at state resulted in a runner-up finish.
Griffey tied for 22nd at state, while Woody was 24th, Johnson tied for 25th, and Lane was 30th.
Mullis finished 35th.
“We were the only team that had no player shoot over 90 in district, region or state,” Neal said.
Neal, who teaches at Oliver Springs High School, plans to continue coaching at his alma mater.
And the future looks bright with the Yellow Jackets.
“I feel like we got some good experience this year with Colby and Blake coming back and having been at the state tournament and seeing what it’s about,” said Neal. “And I’ve got some good young kids coming up.”