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The Roanoke Times

File February Former Christiansburg boys basketball coach Doug Hylton did not have his contract renewed with the Blue Demons. Freshly hired at Auburn, he will get a chance to face his old team twice next season.

Will there be any players to be named later in this deal?

Auburn and Christiansburg high schools have not exactly traded their boys basketball coaches this spring, but the result has been the same.

Shawn Good left Auburn last month to take the Christiansburg job. Pending approval by the Montgomery County School Board, Good's replacement at Auburn is none other than Doug Hylton, who spent the last three seasons as Christiansburg's head coach.

Hylton, a 1988 William Byrd graduate whose contract was not renewed at Christiansburg, said he was prepared to take a position as an assistant coach at Lord Botetourt before jumping in the Auburn sweepstakes and beating out four other finalists for the job.

"I was already going to Lord Botetourt with Jon Cook," Hylton said. "I told him I was coming. I'm not above taking an assistant's job, but I'll always take a head coaching job."

Hylton's record at Christiansburg was 16-53 overall and 2-28 in the River Ridge District, which produced a Group AA Division 3 champion (Cave Spring), a Division 4 state runner-up (Salem) and a Division 4 semifinalist (Hidden Valley).

"They told me that they wanted to go in a different direction, whatever that means," Hylton said of his departure from Christiansburg.

The Blue Demons have had just one winning season in basketball in the past 12 years.

Christiansburg finished 7-16 last season including a 54-49 win over Blacksburg, the program's first victory over the Bruins in nine years.

"When I got there we were at the bottom of the barrel," Hylton said. "Each year we won more games than we did the year before, just not in the district. The district we were in has got to be the toughest in the state."

Good posted a 50-71 record in Auburn in five seasons, including a 15-11 mark in 2007-08.

At Auburn, Hylton will compete in the Three Rivers District, which includes defending Group A Division 2 champion Radford and 2008-09 Division 1 runner-up Eastern Montgomery.

Hylton hopes his high-energy coaching style will work at Auburn.

"Somebody told me the other day that I might be a good fit at Auburn," he said. "I didn't think I was a bad fit at Christiansburg."

Taking a job just eight miles down the road ensures Hylton a short commute. It also means his Auburn teams will play Christiansburg twice next year, including the second game of the season.

Hylton said he plans to take Auburn to team camps at Virginia Tech, Northside and William Byrd.

Basketball, AD jobs vacant at Covington

Garland Jefferson has resigned as the boys basketball coach at Covington, while Tim Morris has left the Cougars' athletic director job.

Morris, who was Covington's AD for four years and also was an assistant principal, has been hired as the girls basketball coach at Riverheads High School near Staunton. He was the boys head coach for six years and the girls head coach for four seasons at William Monroe High in Stanardsville.

Morris said he will direct Riverheads' Education for Employment program and will also teach GED classes for alternative students, while also serving in an administrative capacity.

Morris, who lives in Lexington, said Covington creating separate positions for the athletic director and assistant principal.

"If they had done that before, I might have stayed," he said.

"I was attending between 180 and 200 events a year. After four years, I needed a break."

Jefferson, a former Covington star who played at Virginia, was Covington's coach for the last seven seasons, compiling a 59-93 overall record with one trip to the Region C Division 1 playoffs.

"He told me he wanted to take a year off, maybe come back as an eighth-grade coach," Morris said.

"I think he just got tired of the pressure."

Akers out at Craig Co.

Chris Akers has resigned after two seasons as the baseball coach at Craig County. Akers said he is leaving the teaching profession and is uncertain of his next job.