Former Gamecock assistant hired to lead Midlands boys basketball program
Former University of South Carolina assistant coach Cypheus Bunton has been named the new boys basketball coach at Spring Valley High School.
The move was made official at Tuesday’s Richland 2 School Board meeting.
Bunton replaces Perry Dozier, who announced his retirement in February after 15 seasons. Bunton, a Kentucky native, was an assistant coach under Dozier the last several years and is a senior deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Bunton credits Dozier for giving him an opportunity to be on staff after he was looking for a job.
“I just want to take my experiences on playing and coaching at a high level and bring it to these young men,” Bunton said. “I have been around this game since I was 5 years old. I played for a great coach in college and worked with a guy in Darrin Horn who taught me a lot. I am real excited to give the information I got and help them out.
“I want to prepare them to get ready if they want to play on collegiate level and just have an impact on them.”
Bunton said he is in the process of finalizing his staff. He said assistant Ron Zimmerman will remain on staff. He will be able to start working with them during the summer period starting June 1.
Bunton said one of the trademarks of his team will be playing pressure defense.
Bunton was an assistant coach at USC under Horn from 2008-10 and then during the 2011-12 season. He was the Gamecocks’ director of player development in 2010-11.
Bunton also coached with Horn at Western Kentucky from 2004-08 and came to Columbia when Horn took the Gamecocks job. Bunton and Horn were college teammates at WKU in the mid-1990s. The two remain friends and Horn, who is now texted him Tuesday night when Bunton’s hire became official.
As a senior at Western Kentucky, Burnton averaged 10.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.7 blocked shots. He went on to play basketball overseas from 1995-2000 with stops in Finland, Sweden and England.
Bunton’s hire is the first for new Spring Valley athletic director Jeff DiBattisto, who was picked last month to replace retiring AD Tim Hunter. DiBattisto has been Dreher’s AD since 2018.
Spring Valley went 1-9 last season in the COVID-shortened season. The Vikings made the playoffs in 12 of the past 15 seasons and made it to the Class 4A Upper State championship game in 2016 before losing to Byrnes.
Spring Valley is in Class 5A and is one of the biggest schools in the state. The Vikings are in Region 4-5A with Blythewood, Ridge View, Northwestern and Rock Hill.
“I am looking for that challenge and hope our players are, too,” Bunton said. “We want to build this program back up to teams like Ridge View and Blythewood.”
Bunton will be the second new coach in the region as Northwestern hired Lower Richland’s Caleb Gaither to replace John Bramlett.
Midlands basketball coaching openings
Boys
School — Former Coach — New Coach
Airport — James Kinard — Robert Davis
Ben Lippen — Kevin Carr — TBA
Dreher — Daryl Jarvis — TBA
Lower Richland — Caleb Gaither — TBA
Lugoff-Elgin — Brendan Marcell — TBA
Spring Valley — Perry Dozier — Cypheus Bunton
Girls
A.C. Flora — Coral Johnson — Jacob Thompson
Airport — Jacob Thompson — TBA
Gray Collegiate — David Golden — Ashley Bruner
Irmo — Monica Williams — TBA
Northside Christian — Lucas Hargrove — Kristen Dickerson Fortenberry
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 7:15 PM.
