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FORESTVIEW BASKETBALL COACH RETIRES FROM COACHING

GASTONIA — Ken Beaty, the coach who led Forestview High School to a state title in women's basketball ,has retired from coaching the sport, according to the Gaston Gazette.

The school immediately promoted assistant coach Kevin Gurganus to take his place.

Beaty, 59, will stay on as teacher and will coach golf at Forestview. The five-time conference champion had contemplated giving up the sport for a couple of years and finally felt the time was right.

The Jaguars won the 3-A state title in 2010 under Beaty, going 27-2 behind the star guard combo of Shannon Smith and Kelsey Harris. Beaty also led Forestview to a state final appearance a year earlier, when the Jaguars lost by two points to Greensboro Dudley in the championship game.

His teams went 174-54 over his eight years at the helm, winning conference championships in each of his final five seasons, reaching the sectional finals each of those years and advancing to the regional championship three times. His 2008 team finished 30-1 and didn’t lose until the regional final.

Gurganus becomes only the third head coach in program history. Lynn Rhymer directed the team from its inception in the 1998-99 school year until 2003 before Beaty took over prior to the 2003-04 season. Gurganus has been JV head coach and Beaty’s assistant all eight seasons. He also serves as the school’s head volleyball coach.

Forestview returns its top six players from a team that went 23-5, shared the Big South 3A Conference regular-season championship, won the conference tournament title and made it to the sectional championship game.