Hunter Huss promotes assistant Mellon to head baseball coach

GASTONIA - Brent Mellon satisfied the itch to become a head coach three years ago at Highland Tech. But it took him only one season to realize where he truly wanted to be.

"Hunter Huss is special to me and one of the reasons that I came back and stayed here," Mellon said. "I was hoping that I would get the opportunity to be the baseball coach here."

That chance has arrived Tuesday, when Hunter Huss announced Mellon its head baseball coach. Mellon, 39, replaces Terry Radford, who resigned May 21 after 22 seasons but stayed on as athletic director.

Mellon, 39, has taught at Hunter Huss for 11 years and has coached various sports there for 10 years. The only exception was in 2006, when he took the head baseball job at nearby Highland Tech.

Radford and Hunter Huss principal Kelly Gwaltney interviewed two candidates for the job, both of them from the existing coaching staff. Radford said Mellon's experience was the biggest deciding factor.

"We're looking for good things out of him," Radford said. "We hope he works hard. He's got a tough row to hoe because the talent level here is not real strong. He's been here and he sort of knows how he has to go about it to try to get the talent to step up."

Mellon inherits a program that Radford guided to 152 wins and 364 losses in 22 years, including a 3-19 record this past season. He plans on continuing a summer program that has been in place since 2001.

"We're going to have to work hard," Mellon said. "I think one of the big things is getting the right combination of kids in here. ... I think we've got a couple of JV pitchers that can help us. If you've got good pitching, you can be competitive in baseball."

Mellon graduated from Crest High School in 1988 and earned a bachelor's degree from Appalachian State in 1994. He began his coaching career at Kings Mountain High School in the 1994-95 school year, coaching girls basketball and junior varsity baseball with the late Tony Leigh. He also coached American Legion baseball under Leigh for three summers.

After his year at Kings Mountain, Mellon went to York Chester Middle School, where he coached soccer, football, basketball and baseball from 1995 to 1998. In his final year there, he helped coach the Cougars to Gaston County championships in football and basketball.

Mellon then went to Hunter Huss, where he has stayed since 1998. At Huss, he has been assistant baseball and football coach for 10 seasons, head junior varsity baseball coach for seven years and head junior varsity football coach for two years.

When Mellon became Highland Tech's head baseball coach in 2006, he remained a math teacher at Hunter Huss. After posting a 4-20 record at Highland, he returned to Hunter Huss as a coach.

You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.