From staff reports

A.L. Brown AD Empsy Thompson announced the hiring of Andrew Porter as head girls basketball coach.

Porter, 30, is from Jonesville and played high school basketball at Starmount High in Yadkin County, where he was team MVP. He was named to the Winston-Salem Journal’s All-Northwest team in 2004.

Porter played college basketball at Winston-Salem State and has been coaching boys basketball and football and teaching P.E. in  Davidson County at South Davidson and Oak Grove middle schools.

This will be Porter’s first high school coaching position.

“He went through the interview process with our basketball people, and our boys coach (Shelwyn Klutz) was very impressed with Andrew’s basketball I.Q.,” Thompson said. “He’s’ got a good basketball mind.”

The A.L. Brown girls have struggled the last two seasons in the 4A ranks — 4-18, 5-17 — and have been through a series of coaching changes. Porter will be the fourth head coach in four seasons.

But a return to the 3A ranks in 2017-18 should help the Wonders win more frequently, and Thompson is confident Porter will bring stability to the program.

“Andrew comes highly recommended not only as a coach and person, but as an outstanding P.E. teacher,” Thompson said.
“We’ve got a P.E. teacher here now (Todd Hagler) that is one of the best in the state, and we believe we’ve hired another one.”