Former Camden assistant picked to lead another Kershaw County football program
After a year away from the area, Daniel Sisk is returning to Kershaw County.
North Central named Sisk as its new football coach, while his hire was approved at Tuesday’s Kershaw County School Board meeting. He replaces Ryan McDonnell, who was the interim head coach last season for the Knights after Tyronne Drakeford left.
Drakeford departed North Central to become the Dorchester District 2 athletic director weeks before the season began. The former San Francisco 49er had been the coach at North Central, his alma mater, since 2017. He led the Knights to an eight-win season in 2018 and a region championship in 2020. It was North Central’s first region title since 1992.
“What drew me to North Central was the combination of outstanding academics, state of the art facilities, great support from the administration, and the opportunity to elevate success for the student athletes,” Sisk told The State.
Sisk, an Irmo grad, spent last season as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Dustin Curtis at Dorman High. Curtis announced Monday he was stepping down as Cavaliers head coach. Speculation suggests he’ll become the next coach at Lexington.
Before last year, most of Sisk’s coaching career was in Kershaw County. He spent 16 years as an assistant coach at Camden under head coaches Jimmy Neal and Brian Rimpf.
Sisk was the offensive coordinator the last nine years at Camden. The Bulldogs played in back-to-back Class 3A state championship games in 2020-21.
“I was blessed to be able to work for two great mentors and leaders at Camden in Jimmy Neal and Brian Rimpf. And then fortunate enough to be with Dustin at Dorman,” Sisk said. “All three of those men care more about the development of the person, not just the athlete. If you build a program on core values, the wins will come. That’s the biggest thing that I could take away from all three.”
North Central went 1-9 last season and missed the postseason. Three of the nine losses were by six points or less, though the Knights struggled with numbers and had just around 20 players by season’s end.
“We want to create a program that athletes want to be a part of because they believe they can be successful,” Sisk said. “We will need to find more depth at certain positions and really do a great job of long term recruiting within our feeder programs.”
Sisk said he hopes to start around the middle of March.
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This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 7:29 PM.
