RCHS Alumnus To Succeed Former Coach Miller
With the looming retirement of Rockbridge County High School head golf coach David Miller, a familiar face has returned to the area to guide the golf program. Garret Hu f fma n , a 2021 RC graduate who was coached by Miller and played four years of golf for the Wildcats, was hired in mid-May as RC’s new golf coach.
Huffman, 22, will also be a physical education teacher at Maury River Middle School. He graduated from King University in Bristol, Tenn. this spring, majoring in exercise science and minoring in physical education. At King, Huffman was a third baseman for the Division II baseball team, after playing in high school for the Wildcats.
Miller, 65, who will continue teaching alternative education for another year before retiring, coached the RC golf team for the past 13 years, consistently leading the golfers to the Class 3 state tournament. In 2023, Miller was inducted into the RC Athletic Hall of Fame as a coach. Over the last three decades, Miller also coached RC boys tennis, basketball and football.
The Wildcats’ highest finish at the state tournament was when they placed second to Abingdon in 2017, when Huffman was a freshman. When Huffman was a sophomore, he tied for 10th place at the state tournament to lead the Wildcats to fifth place.
As a senior in the spring 2021 season, postponed and condensed from the previous fall due to COVID-19, Huffman was the Valley District champion and player of the year, and he placed 14th at the state tournament. The Wildcats did not qualify as a team for the state tournament that season, but they tied for second place in the Region 3C tournament.
Excited about the chance to coach golf, Huffman said, “When I heard Coach Miller tell me that he wasn’t coming back for this last year, I was really interested in it. I thought, this would be a great opportunity, something to coach. Of course, my dream was to coach and teach, do both at the same time. I thought, what better sport than golf?”
Miller said he’s confident about how Huffman will do as a coach. “It’s hard to give it up after that much time, but I knew that if I could get Garret to come back, we didn’t have a better choice than him,” said Miller. “I think he’ll be a great teacher. He’s got a lot of patience. He was always under control with his golf game. … The kids will really like him.”
Although Huffman hasn’t been a head coach before, he’s helped youths with lessons, more baseball than golf, but he feels like he’s ready for the new job.
Huffman has met with Miller to prepare himself and said his former coach “has been a great source. I kind of wanted to pick his brain on some things, this being my first coaching job, and of course, he’s such a legacy of coaching and being the athletic director and all those things at Rockbridge,” said Huffman.
Miller said that, since Huffman knows golf very well, he gave him advice on the other aspects of coaching. They talked about administrative things, scheduling and travel.
When Huffman was in high school, he learned a lot from Miller about golf and life. Huffman said Miller made practice “a lot of fun. He was probably the most personable coach I’ve ever had. He was very good at developing relationships.”
“Not only was it competitive – of course, I love the competitive aspect of golf – he’d crack jokes when it was needed, lighten the tension a little bit when I was out there on the golf course,” said Huffman.
When people tell Huffman he has big shoes to fill in replacing Miller, he agrees and says, “If I could be half the coach and person he was, then I’d be pretty happy.”
Departing RC athletic director Adam Haynes, who will start his new role as Parry McCluer High School’s athletic director next week, praised both Huffman and Miller. Haynes said Huffman had been recommended by former teachers and coaches to be the new golf coach. “I met him a couple times over my four years here, and he seemed to be a very good fit,’ said Haynes. “He came highly recommended from Coach Miller.”
Haynes said Miller “has been a huge part of not just the athletic department, but of the school as a whole. In my four years, he’s been a mentor to me and a great help to me. He’s very well liked by teachers, staff, fellow coaches. He’s going to be missed. He has a lot of knowledge on golf, athletics, education, our community as a whole.”
In addition to Miller, Huffman said he learned a lot from Travis Roadcap, who was the Wildcats’ baseball coach during Huffman’s senior year, as well as from his father, Wayne. “My dad was probably one of the best coaches I’ve had,” said Huffman, adding that his father taught him the importance of developing relationships with people. “Now I prioritize that.”
Huffman’s father works at McKee Foods Corporation and Affiliates in Stuarts Draft, and his mother, Tereasa, works at Nationwide Insurance: Huffman Insurance Agencies Inc. in Lexington.
Huffman has played golf and baseball since he was four years old, with his father coaching him previously. His older brother, Tristen, a 2016 RC graduate, also played golf and was a state qualifier as a senior in 2015, placing 23rd at the Class 3 state tournament.
Now that Huffman is done with baseball, he said, golf is the main thing he’s focused on lately, playing with his father, Tristen and other family members. Sometimes, he and Tristen play in two-man tournaments.
Huffman also enjoys spending time with his fiancée, Kendall Nye, a 2022 RC graduate who is a rising senior midfielder for the Liberty University women’s lacrosse team. During high school, Nye helped lead the RC girls lacrosse teams to two Region 4D championships and two Class 4 state tournament appearances. Huffman and Nye got engaged last October and plan to get married next summer.
Just before RC graduation in late May, Huffman had an interest in meeting with returning and new members of the RC golf team. “It was cool to be able to meet with them,” said Garret, who also talked with some of them when he saw them at this year’s girls lacrosse playoff games. Kendall’s younger sister, Anna, was a sophomore for the team, which finished 15-3 and made it to the Class 4 state championship game.
“I told the kids when I met with them at the end of the school year that golf is probably where I made most of my memories,” said Huffman. “I’ve still got a lot of friends from that team.”
From last year’s team, the Wildcats graduated their top player, Region 3C runnerup and state qualifier Andrew McCoy, but they look to return several promising players. One is rising sophomore Davis Welsh, who was a Region 3C qualifier as a freshman. Other top returning players are rising seniors Harrison Tanner and Dean Fafatas, rising junior Finbar Looney, and rising sophomore Joe Vargas.
“I’ve heard some great things from Coach Miller, in terms of who’s returning, and new faces as well,” said Huffman.
The Wildcats narrowly missed advancing to the Region 3C tournament as a team last fall, with only two teams advancing, but they had McCoy and Welsh representing them.
This coming school year, the Wildcats are switching from the Valley District to the Shenandoah District, with shorter travel distances. While Huffman doesn’t know the opposing coaches, some of his family members live near where some of the district matches will be. His father went to Wilson Memorial High School in Fishersville, and his mother went to Riverheads High School in Staunton.
Because of the upcoming renovations at the Lexington Golf and Country Club, the Wildcats won’t have any home matches this fall, but they’ll be able to practice there.
Looking forward to golf season, Huffman said, “I’m really excited for it.”
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