Franklin County BOE approves hiring of Torisky to coach RBHS girls’ basketball, Craft to lead THS baseball
Two new head coaches were hired at the latest Franklin County Board of Education meeting on August 6th, filling roles at Red Bay High School and Tharptown High School. At Red Bay, John Torisky was hired as the head coach of the girls’ basketball program, while Lucas Craft was named head baseball coach at Tharptown.
Torisky, a physical education teacher at Red Bay, was hired to replace Brady Ramey, who resigned the position to take over as principal at RBHS.
“For a short period of time I was the head coach of the team, so I had a real connection to the team and wanted to find someone who I thought could help continue getting the girls’ basketball program going in the right direction,” Ramey said. “I know John has a work ethic like none other. I’m super excited about him leading that program, and I know he’s going to put in the time it takes to get the girls on the right track.”
Torisky, who has been coaching at Red Bay in some capacity for 14 years, has intimate knowledge of the basketball programs, and he felt this chance to help the girls’ basketball program was something he couldn’t refuse.
“This is my 10th year with the boys and first with the girls, so I’ve been around both programs for a while,” Torisky said. “It was unexpected, but after looking at the opportunity to help the program out I thought that it was something I needed to do.
“I’d been in that situation before with the boys. When I took that job we were really struggling, but there were some good young players in the program. I saw that and we ran with it and the program has turned around,” he added. “With the girls there are a lot of similarities, so I think if I can work with the younger girls and get everyone excited about basketball again, you never know; we can get this program turned around again.”
Though the basketball season is still a couple months away, Torisky said the job of establishing priorities and expectations for his new team begins right away.
“The main thing I think to start with will be showing the girls and the program the expectations I have for them, what I’m used to, and what the standards at Red Bay have been in the past and bringing them back to that,” he said. “Getting back to working hard in the gym, conditioning, lifting weight—doing all the things that I know have worked in the past for us.
“I’m very familiar with the tradition and history of Red Bay and it’s my goal to get it back to where it was,” Torisky added.
At Belgreen, Lucas Craft replaced Thomas Horton, who resigned as the head coach of the Wildcats earlier this summer.
“We’re really excited about Lucas Craft taking over as our new baseball coach here,” Tharptown principal Tyler Berryman said. “Lucas comes from a great baseball family and great baseball tradition at Colbert County. We’re pleased to have him.”
Craft, who also serves as a teacher and the offensive coordinator for the Tharptown football team, was an Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 2A All-State Honorable Mention infielder as a senior at Colbert County in 2019.
“I just want to say that I’m really grateful for the opportunity,” Craft said. “This is my first head coaching job in baseball. I really enjoy baseball, I’ve been around it my whole life, played it my whole life, and coached it for a few years at Colbert County. I’m excited about the chance to lead this program.”
Taking a look at the program and his players, Craft said he thinks Tharptown can accomplish big things.
“Walking down the hallway and seeing the guys here that play baseball, I think we can do things that haven’t been done at Tharptown,” he said. “My goal is to make the playoffs, but I think something we need to establish is just doing the small things. If you take care of the small things first, the big things fall into place.”