Transferred AD Looks Forward To ‘Growing The Tradition’
Parry McCluer High School has hired Adam Haynes, who has been the athletic director at Rockbridge County High School for the past four years, as its new athletic director.
Buena Vista City Public Schools announced the hire at its monthly meeting on Tuesday of last week, and Haynes will officially assume the role on July 1. A week before Haynes was hired by PM, former Harrisonburg and Rocktown boys soccer and golf coach Anthony Marasco was hired as RC’s new athletic director.
Haynes, 49, replaces Mike Cartolaro, who was the Fighting Blues’ athletic director for the last six years and is retiring. Cartolaro, 65, coached the PM boys basketball team for six years, from 2016-2022, leading the Blues to their first state title in program history in 2021. During his boys basketball coaching career, Cartolaro won 600 games and five state championships, four with Altavista. A story on Cartolaro’s career and retirement will be in next week’s newspaper.
Looking forward to working with Haynes, Dr. Todd Jones, the PMHS principal, said, “We’re extremely excited to welcome Adam Haynes to Parry McCluer High School and Buena Vista City Public Schools. He brings a wealth of experience to the role of athletic director at Parry McCluer as both an administrator and coach with 22 years of experience.”
“Coach Haynes believes in having high expectations and a strong character and work ethic,” added Jones. “With Haynes’s strong background in coaching and administrative experience, we look forward to his future leadership in athletics at Parry McCluer High School.”
On Cartolaro’s retirement, Jones said, “We are extremely thankful for Coach Cartolaro and all that he’s done for Parry McCluer. We’re sad to see him go, but we wish him the best in his retirement.”
Commenting on his decision to switch from serving as athletic director RC to PM, Haynes said, “I’m very thankful for Rockbridge County and the school system there. I met a lot of great people in the school and the community. I’m very appreciative of them for allowing me to be the athletic director. This opportunity [at PM] presented itself, and I’m excited about the opportunity. Parry McCluer has a rich tradition as a school, athletically and academically.”
At PM, Haynes will have fewer teams to oversee than at RC, as the Blues don’t have golf and some of the spring sports – soccer, lacrosse and boys tennis –that the Wildcats have. PM has had success in a lot of sports as a smaller Class 1 school, while RC is a larger Class 3 school.
Haynes said he feels he grew a lot in his first stint as an athletic director at RC. Getting to know Cartolaro better and learning from him helped. “I’ve known Cartolaro since I started coaching,” said Haynes. “We scrimmaged each other, and I started talking to him. I’ve known him through the coaching realm, then came to Rockbridge as the athletic director and got to know him a little better, where we talked more when we [RC and PM] played each other in several sports. I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Cartolaro and what he’s done at Parry McCluer, growing the tradition that they already have, athletically and academically.”
During Haynes’s tenure at RC, the Wildcats’ girls lacrosse team won the last five Region 4D championships and have made five Class 4 state semifinal appearances and have played in two state championship games, finishing runner-up to Western Albemarle this year and last year.
The Wildcats have also had a lot of success in volleyball, swimming, wrestling and competition cheerleading, with all of those teams competing at the state level. The swimming teams had two state champions, Spencer and Ali Pfaff, while Haynes was serving as athletic director.
Working with retiring principal Mike Craft and a committee, Haynes started the RC Athletic Hall of Fame in the fall of 2022. “That’s been successful,” said Haynes. “I’m very proud of that. Hopefully, that will continue.”
Prior to his time with the Wildcats, Haynes coached boys basketball for six years at Bassett High School in Henry County, and he also taught social studies.
He grew up in Martinsville and graduated from Martinsville High School in 1994 before attending High Point University in North Carolina, where he graduated from in 1998 with a degree in sport management and history.
While at High Point, Haynes was a student assistant coach for the men’s basketball team, and High Point was making the transition from Division II to Division I. With only one full-time assistant coach, Haynes said he became kind of a director of operations, gaining a lot of administrative experience. In addition to coaching, his tasks included making travel plans for the team and scouting the opponents.
Haynes then started his education career in Patrick County in 2003-04, teaching social studies and coaching junior varsity football, basketball and baseball at Fieldale-Collinsville High School in Patrick County.
After the consolidation of area schools in 2004, Haynes became an assistant coach for the varsity boys basketball team and for the football team at Bassett High School in 2004 and stayed in that position until 2009. He served as the head cross country coach at Bassett in 2007 and 2008. With Haynes’s help, the Bassett boys basketball team made it to the state semifinals in 2006.
Haynes then took a job at Patrick County High School as the head boys basketball coach in 2009 and stayed in that position for five years, helping the team make its first regional tournament in 12 years. Haynes returned to Bassett in 2014 as the head boys basketball coach, and he coached there for six years until 2020, continuing to teach social studies.
Haynes and his wife of 22 years, Shannon, a 1993 RC graduate, have four children, two twin daughters in college and two twin sons in high school.
Looking forward to his new role, Haynes said, “I’m leaving Rockbridge in a good spot. I feel like I’m coming over to Parry McCluer in a good spot.”
