Stacy Bennett replaces retired 'mentor' Mickey Bayens in charge of Richmond Hill athletics

RICHMOND HILL — Stacy Bennett figured he would be coaching baseball for 30 years, but a casual conversation with Richmond Hill High School athletic director Mickey Bayens led to a new career path.

“I can still remember it,” Bennett said. “I was at the copying machine when Mickey started talking to me about a leadership role. My wife and I both got into leadership, and a lot of that was due to Mickey.”

Shortly afterward in May 2019, Bennett — then in his ninth year as the Wildcats' head baseball coach — became an assistant principal and assistant athletic director under Bayens.

Three years later, Bayens — one of the state’s most respected administrators — retired as of July 1, and Bennett has been named his replacement by the Bryan County Board of Education.

Bennett’s wife, Elizabeth, is principal at Richmond Hill Middle School, and they are the parents of two sons, Brody and Carson. Prior to moving into administration Elizabeth Bennett was highly successful as head of the the Wildcats girls basketball program.

“This has a lot to do with him and the belief he had in me,” Stacy Bennett said. “People like that make you think they see something in you.

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“When the district stepped up and created the position (assistant AD), Mickey said, ‘This is the guy I want.’ He has allowed me to do more each year and has helped me stay in two lanes. He’s been a great mentor.”

Wildcats' run of success

Bennett will be heading up an athletic program that under Bayens’ direction became one of the most successful overall programs in the state. For the past several years, Richmond Hill has consistently finished in the top 10 in the Georgia Athletic Directors Cup standings.

The Wildcats were 44th in the Directors Cup standings in Class 5A in 2015. The following year they moved up to 26th and in succeeding years have finished seventh, eighth, fifth, third and fifth. The boys program was number one in 2020 and the girls were seventh — leading to the overall third-place ranking.

The school’s teams will take on a new challenge this fall as they move up to Class 7A. Richmond Hill will be in Region 1-7A with Camden County, Lowndes County, Valdosta and Colquitt County.

“As an athletic director, you take pride in seeing Richmond Hill High School rise up in the ranks in the Directors Cup standings, to see us hold our own with the metro Atlanta schools,” Bayens said. “It makes them pay attention to Richmond Hill.”

Bayens had two stints at Richmond Hill, with the first starting in 1994 when he was hired as a history teacher and head baseball coach following graduation from Georgia Southern. In 2002 he went to Liberty County as an assistant principal at Bradwell Institute and was also the county’s director of transportation.

The St. Louis native returned to Richmond Hill as an assistant principal and athletic director in 2011. In 2013 with the school growing and the sports program expanding, he became a full-time athletic director.

“We were Class A when I was hired by (principal) Miller Morris,” said Bayens, who had done his student teaching at Richmond Hill. “There have been trials and tribulations as we have grown but we embrace the challenges.”

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Richmond Hill fields 28 teams in GHSA-sponsored sports with nearly 800 students on team rosters. This past year, the Wildcats won seven region championships: baseball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls track and field, girls soccer and girls lacrosse.

Learning from coach Bayens

Of the school’s coaches, boys basketball coach Bill Henderson can offer perhaps the best insight as he has been involved with both men in different capacities.

“I grew up going to the Bayens Baseball Camp and was able to play baseball for coach Bayens when I was in high school,” Henderson said. “One thing I always remember is the emphasis coach Bayens put on doing things and playing the game the right way.

“As athletic director, I feel like he has had that same expectation for players and coaches,” said Henderson, whom Bayens promoted to head coach in 2012 when William Altman went to Metter.

"He was super supportive of all the players and coaches and played a big part in the overall success that Richmond Hill teams have had during his time as athletic director. He was at Richmond Hill all the time and he set a great example of how players and coaches should represent Richmond Hill High School.”

Henderson also got an opportunity to work with Bennett as an assistant baseball coach, and he gained a perspective on how to build and develop a program.

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“It was a great chance for me to see how a top-notch program was run,” Henderson said. “Stacy always placed an emphasis on creating a great culture. I’ve been able to apply a lot of the things I learned watching him run his program to our basketball program. I’m excited for him to have the opportunity to lead us into the future.”

Bennett is good friends with Georgia Southern athletic director Jared Benko dating back to their high school days together at Oconee County High School. Bennett is a graduate of Armstrong Atlantic State University, where he played under legendary baseball coach Joe Roberts.

Drafted as a catcher by the New York Mets following his junior year, he spent three years in the Mets organization before turning to teaching and coaching. He spent a year at Long County High School before coming to Richmond Hill as a business education teacher — he was an economics major in college — and head baseball coach.

Bennett has a 162-96 record (120-59 the last six seasons) as the Wildcats coach, including four straight region championships and the school’s first appearance in the Elite Eight of the GHSA Class 6A state playoffs.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Richmond Hill Stacy Bennett replaces athletic director Mickey Bayens