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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

After a short search West Forsyth has hired a familiar name from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County athletics as its new girls basketball coach.  

Johnathan Gainey, who has previously coached girls basketball at Winston-Salem Prep and Reynolds, and also coached boys basketball at Glenn, has been named the girls basketball coach replacing Catrina Green, who resigned earlier this summer after three seasons to take a college-coaching job. Gainey also coached girls basketball at Providence Grove High School in Climax in Randolph County this past season after previously coaching at Glenn. 

“I wanted to get back this way. Family is the most important thing to me,” Gainey said. “I had the opportunity. It’s one of those things. Also, being Winston-Salem. With, if future jobs opened up, (that) it would bring me back closer this way (with) West Forsyth I consider it a gift I understood the opportunity I would have at West Forsyth.” 

Gainey helped Providence Grove to an overall record of 15-12 and 7-5 in the Piedmont Athletic 2-A/1-A. 

“Thay job opened up,” Gainey said. “Someone reached out to me about Providence Grove. I looked into it. I went and interviewed for the position. Really enjoyed the interviewing process (with) the people I spoke with and fortunately they offered me the job and I accepted.” 

Athletic Director Mike Pennington of West Forsyth said Gainey, who is 55, stuck out in the hiring process. 

“We had some good applicants. I was a little concerned because Coach Green had the opportunity to go to college so late,” Pennington said. “Good for her for getting the opportunity to move on, but you never know in late-July, mid-July. Yeah, but I was thrilled when I saw his name. He did a great job at Reynolds.” 

According to Gainey, he was the head girls coach at Winston-Salem Prep from 2008-13, the head girls coach at Reynolds from 2013-17, and he was the head boys coach at Glenn from 2017-23, and coached at Providence Grove this past season. During the 2016-17 season, Gainey helped lead Reynolds a 24-4 record, and in that season, Reynolds beat West Forsyth three out of four times.  

“I think I bring a wealth of experience, first and foremost,” Gainey said. “Like I said, this is my fifth spot and I’ve been fortunate to have good coaching staffs with me as well. But win, I’ve been fortunate to be at. I’ve won at every stop and I think at the end of the day, most importantly, be a positive light, be a positive influence on my players’ life.” 

It’s also extremely rare for a coach to be a head coach for both boys and girls basketball. 

“I think he brings experience,” Pennington said. “He’s been through the wars. He knows the CPC (Central Piedmont 4-A conference). I always think anytime we hire somebody, you know, can you sell this coach to parents? It’s going to be somebody that, you know, that is good for the team and good for their kids. And that’s true for him in spades.  

“Our girls will get better, he’ll coach them, he’ll treat them right, and, you know, I think his upside is huge. Somebody with that experience doesn’t come along very often. You don’t see too many people in this day and time that are a lifer as a head coach. Short stint and they get out of it. That’s not him.” 

To Gainey, basketball is basketball no matter whether it’s coaching boys or girls. 

“To me, it all begins with confidence,” Gainey said. “I really do think that’s where it begins with on the girls side. I think you just want to instill the confidence and the belief on the girls side. I don’t think boys really have a confidence issue.” 

Hiring Gainey should provide some stability to the Titans’ girls basketball program. 

“You want somebody that’s going to provide some stability and I see that in him,” Pennington said. “You know, he’s a veteran. We talked in the interview that he wanted to get back to Forsyth County. Like I say, I think West is always a place he’s kept his eye on. You know, we had some heated battles with him when he was at Reynolds and then with the boys at Glenn. So, I think he brings stability, he brings experience to our program, and that’s always a great thing. And I think he brings energy and passion.” 

Practice starts on Oct. 30 and the first-available playing date is Nov. 11. Even though there are three months before the season starts Gainey is just getting to know the team.  

“It will be different,” he said. “I would say we will be late trying to do some things that it’s going to take for us to be successful in a very competitive CPC (Central Piedmont 4-A) conference. But we have time. It’s not right around the corner, but it’s on the horizon.” 

Gainey will be a community coach, meaning that Gainey won’t be teaching at West Forsyth.  

“All I’ve ever been is a community coach,” Gainey said. “I’ve always been a community coach over the years. And I’ve been able to do things necessary because I’m not in the building. I do get inside that building. The main thing is make sure you build relationships with your girls beyond the basketball court. I’m not a seasonal coach. They’ll see me at the events.” 

Even though Gainey was away from coaching in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County this past season he was able to follow the Central Piedmont 4-A. West Forsyth finished 13-11 overall this past season. Mount Tabor won the conference and Reynolds finished runner-up. 

“When you play everybody constantly every year – two, three times a year — you’ll figure out what you do well,” Gainey said. “You scout them a lot, so in this type of conference you have to understand even if you think a team might not be as talented as they was the year before they know a lot about your program and what you like to do, and when you know what other teams do you sometimes cause a lot of problems.”