Carolina Forest hires Dewalt as boys basketball coach

Carolina Forest officially has a new boys basketball coach. 

Emmanuel Dewalt, who led the Hemingway Tigers to a pair of state championship games and the 2018 title, will take over the Panthers hoops program, according to an email from Horry County Schools spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier. The school board approved the hire Monday night.

The position drew 31 applications and the other finalists were assistant coaches Jude Hunt and Robert Vosbrinck.

After a standout athletic career at Union High School, Dewalt went on to play football for Tennessee-Chattanooga. In 2002, the Mocs honored Dewalt with the A.C. Moore Award, given annually to the “student-athlete who best personifies the athletic department's vision of establishing comprehensive excellence as the UTC standard.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education with a focus on biology and natural sciences before later earning a master’s degree in divergent learning from Columbia College.

Prior to taking the job at Hemingway, he taught and coached at York and Mid-Carolina for a combined 14 years. At Mid-Carolina, he led the boys basketball team to its most single-season wins in school history.

Brunson, who took over the position at Carolina Forest on an interim basis midway through the 2008 season, assumed full control later that year and then remained until he announced his retirement on March 1.