Blythewood will soon have familiar face as its new baseball coach
Dolan Crolley will get a second chance to lead the Blythewood High baseball program.
Crolley will be the next Bengals baseball coach and replace Travis Poole, who left after three seasons to become the head coach at A.C. Flora. He informed his team of the decision on Monday. An official announcement is expected after school board approval.
Crolley has spent the last two seasons as the White Knoll head coach. The Timberwolves went 10-14 this season and were 5-5 in Region 4-5A, their best region finish in a decade. In 2025, the Wolves won a first-round playoff series against St. James and advanced to the district bracket.
White Knoll won’t be wasting time finding its next coach. The school announced a press conference for Wednesday afternoon to introduce its next hire.
This is Crolley’s second stint as Blythewood coach. He was named interim coach in 2023 when Banks Faulkner left to take a job at Newberry College.
As interim, Crolley led the Bengals to the Class 5A championship series before losing to River Bluff. It was Blythewood’s third state championship appearance in school history.
Crolley was named Class 5A Coach of the Year in the 2023 season but didn’t land the full-time job. He spent one year as Lugoff-Elgin assistant before taking over at the White Knoll.
Crolley was an assistant at Blythewood from 2020-22 and at Spring Valley from 2013-2020.
Blythewood is coming off a 25-5 season and a Region 5-5A championship. The Bengals lost in the district championship of the Class 5A Division I playoffs.
Blythewood will return several starters from that team, including pitchers Bowman Rummel, Andrew and Caleb Blackwell, catcher Brandon Bolton, outfielder Navy Strickland and infielder Cooper Penfield. The Bengals will be in Region 4-5A next year with Gray Collegiate, Ridge View, Spring Valley and Sumter.
