The Richmond baseball team’s season ended last Friday when the Raiders were defeated 8-4 by Hoggard in the first round of the state playoffs.

The biggest question mark looming over the program is who will be the team’s next head coach.

This past season, interim coach Jason Norton guided Richmond to an overall record of 15-9, and a third place finish in the Mid-Southeastern Conference with a 9-5 conference mark. Norton was given the interim role after former Raider coach David Lee left to take the head coaching job at West Stanly in late January. Lee was the head coach at Richmond for two years.

Lee led Richmond to two straight conference titles, including a spot in the regional semifinals in 2007.

“We thank Coach Norton for what he did this season, and he had a good year,” Richmond Senior High Principal Cory Satterfield said. “He came in at a tough time when Coach Lee left, but we were honest with him from the start. We were giving him the interim job, but we also wanted to see what else is out there. I’m not saying he won’t get the job, but we feel like, we will be doing a disservice to Richmond County if we didn’t open the job up.”

Raider Athletic Director Hal Shuler admitted that Norton is one of the top candidates, but also acknowledged that Richmond has received some applications about the job.

According to Shuler, he and Satterfield will begin the interview process in a few weeks, and would like to hire a coach by the middle of June.

Shuler added that if Norton doesn’t receive the full-time job, he hopes Norton will remain on the staff in some capacity.

“Jason is a great guy and has done a good job,” Shuler said. “I just think we owe it to our program to take a minute and make sure we do what is best for our program. The bottom line is we just want to take our time.”

Norton expressed his appreciation towards Shuler and Satterfield for giving him the opportunity and gave his reasons for why he should have the interim tag taken off.

Norton also pointed out why Richmond could go in a different direction and hire someone else.

“I have to apply like everyone else and just hope I’ve done enough to keep it,” Norton said. “I feel like I get the kids to play hard for me and they respect me. Not just playing the game, but teaching them about life in general. I think the kids really know I care about them more than just playing baseball.

“If anything keeps me from getting it full time, it would be my experience as this season was my first year. But if they find someone that’s better, I can live with that and we will see what happens from there.”