Bishops’ Runey chases SC’s most-winningest coaches

Bishop England girls’ basketball coach Paul Runey was expected to reach another coaching milestone on Tuesday, Jan. 18, when the Bishops played North Charleston. The veteran coach was aiming for his 750th career victory on Tuesday evening, after the paper went to print.

 

One thing was just as impressive: Runey’s team was gunning for its 114th consecutive region victory when the Bishops hosted the Cougars at Father O’Brien Gymnasium in a Region 8-AAA contest.

 

Ironically, North Charleston, which entered the game with a 2-8 record, was the last team to defeat the Bishops in region play. On Jan. 4, 2011, North Charleston posted a 67-54 victory over the Bishops when the schools competed in Region 6-AA.

 

Since then, the Bishops have averaged 66.4 points per game in region play while allowing only 29.7 points per game.

 

Runey, meanwhile, began the 2021-22 season as the state’s sixth winningest girls’ high school basketball coach, according to Palmetto’s Finest, the official publication of The South Carolina High School League.

 

Runey has moved up to No. 3 on the list as the Bishops posted nine victories in their first 15 games. Only Anne Long and Fred Senter have more career victories as girls’ high school basketball coaches in the Palmetto State.

 

Long coached at Dutch Fork and Spring Valley from 1974-2015 and logged 824 career victories. Senter coached at Mullins from 1961-2006 and posted 792 career wins.

 

Runey was at the helm of the program when the Bishops won their first state title during the 2011-12 season. The Bishops posted a 236-21 record from 2011-12 to 2020-21 and won six state titles to become the gold standard for girls basketball in South Carolina.

 

BE alum wins D3 football title

 

Remember Bishop England standout football lineman Adam Dobbins?

 

The Hanahan resident played on two state championship teams for coach John Cantey as the Bishops won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.

 

Well, he’s still winning championships as a football player. The 6-foot-1, 295-pounder was a member of the Mary Hardin-Baylor football team that recently won the NCAA Division III title.

 

In mid-December, Mary Hardin-Baylor posted a 57-24 victory over North Central (Illinois) in the NCAA Division III national championship game, which was contested in Canton, Ohio.

 

Mary Hardin-Baylor, located in Belton, Texas, finished with a 15-0 record. The Crusaders “claimed” a 20-0 record during the 2021 calendar year because the American Southwest Conference played a five-game spring schedule to compensate for not playing in the fall of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Dobbins began his college career playing for Wheaton College, located in Chicago. 

 

He is working on his MBA at Mary Hardin-Baylor, a private Christian university that was chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845. It has nearly 4,000 students and awards degrees at the baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral levels. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. 

 

Dobbins was a three-year starter and two-time all-state selection on the gridiron at BE. He also lettered in track.