Charleston Gazette

July 10, 2007

Tinsley not offered job, Nitro city officials say

Nitro Mayor Rusty Casto said he has not met with Nitro football coach Scott Tinsley as of Monday about a possible job with the city.

“We sent word that we could talk about some ideas,’’ said Casto. “We haven’t offered him [a job].’’

According to a newspaper report Monday, Tinsley informed Nitro High School Principal Paul McClanahan that, assuming a local job offer comes through as promised, he will turn down a job at Waccamaw High School in Pawleys Island, S.C.

The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported Saturday that Tinsley had declined an offer to work as offensive coordinator a Waccamaw High. Tinsley had said recently he was considering the job. The move would have reunited Tinsley with former Nitro coach Robert “Little’’ Burdette.

“I talked with [Tinsley] last Thursday [June 28], he called me back Friday morning [June 29] and said he would be coaching at Nitro,” McClanahan said. “I have no reason to think he wouldn’t be back with us. There wasn’t any contingency [on getting a job with the city of Nitro].’’

Tinsley was unavailable for comment Monday night. Tinsley’s home and cell-phone voice messages say the he is unavailable until the last week of July.

Tinsley currently works at Crown Pontiac in Nitro as a car salesman and coaches girls basketball and softball in addition to football at Nitro High. The three coaching positions pay a combined $8,200 per year, but with practices and games, severely limit Tinsley’s time at his other job. He told the Gazette in June that he would like to land a Division I coaching job and felt a move to South Carolina could be a springboard.

The Waccamaw position offered close to $2,000 more in salary for a five-month contract, along with some other perks such as housing. Tinsley also would be allowed to fill in as a substitute teacher in South Carolina, which he can’t do in Kanawha County.

Another factor that could keep Tinsley at Nitro High is the ability to continue coaching his daughter Nikki, a junior who plays softball. If he left for the South Carolina job, there would be no guarantee of retaining Nitro High’s softball coaching position.

The city of Nitro has talked for the last year about expanding its services to its youth and those talks have picked up steam recently, said Tifney Terry, the city of Nitro treasurer who also manages city hall. Terry said Tinsley’s name recently came up in the conversation.

“The city is looking at revamping our parks and recreation [and] trying to draw some of the kids out,’’ said Terry. “We see a lot of them on the streets with no real place to go. We talked about getting them interested in activities [such as] basketball, baseball [and] utilizing the parks inside Nitro.

“We have talked about needing someone to coordinate those activities. When we were throwing out some ideas, somebody threw out Coach Tinsley’s name. One of the things we discussed was we would advertise for the position and it would go to the most qualified.’’

Terry said Tinsley was contacted to gauge his interest.

“There’s been no sit-down conversations at this point,’’ Terry said. “There would be no job offer to any individual without it first being advertised. If Coach Tinsley applies and is the most qualified applicant, he will be considered for the job. Whether or not we want to take the next step, create that position, has not been made yet.’’

Terry said she thinks Tinsley would be an ideal candidate for the city of Nitro’s position.

“He kinds of runs the gamut as far as sports activities,’’ said Terry. “He seems to do well with every group of kids he works with in the city. He has a track record of success in modeling not only our young men in the community, but our young women as well. He is an excellent teacher and instructor.’’

To contact staff writer Tommy R. Atkinson, use e-mail or call 348-4811.