Rappahannock Co. hires O’Meara

When Donald O’Meara stepped down as the girls basketball coach at Highland School he said he was ready for a change of pace. But it wasn’t long after that O’Meara realized he still had a desire to coach high school hoops.

That’s exactly what the Culpeper native and resident will do, agreeing to take over the girls program at Rappahannock County High School. O’Meara resigned from his teaching job at Highland on July 1 and then verbally accepted the position at RCHS the following day. He’ll teach special education in addition to coaching.

“It was a good fit for us,” Rappahannock County athletic director Bob Czekaj said. “It was a coincidence that we had a girls basketball position and he applied. It was fate I guess and we were happy to have him as an applicant.”

O’Meara compiled a record of 129-30 in five years at Highland and the Hawks reached the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association state semifinals each year. Before taking over at Highland he served as an assistant at Culpeper County High School, Washington & Jefferson College and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.

“I’m thankful for Highland and the last five years were really good for me,” O’Meara said. “But I felt I needed a change and this summer there were some openings. I picked Rappahannock because it was close to home and because of the kind of kids I wanted to work with.”

After leading a private school powerhouse at Highland, O’Meara knows it will be a new experience to take over a Group A public school program that has struggled in recent years.

“It’s going to be a different challenge to build a program that’s had a lot of turnover in the past few years,” O’Meara said. “We’re looking forward to giving them some consistency. It’s going to be a building situation, but they’ve got some good athletes.”

O’Meara plans to get his time with the Panthers started on July 13. That night he will host a meet the coach night and open gym at the Rappahannock County Schools auxiliary gymnasium from 6-8 p.m.