Back in the saddle
Chasity Simpson and Tim Raines team up to rein in young Warlassies
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
January 22, 2021
Owen Warlassies Head Coach Chasity Simpson played for current assistant coach Tim Raines, who coached the team for 25 years. Raines hired Simpson as his assistant coach, and returned to the sidelines for her first season in the role. Photo by Fred McCormick
Basketball season for the Owen Warlassies, which began this month with a 2-4 mark through the first six games, has been a unique blend of the familiar and unfamiliar.
Players and referees wear masks as they run up and down the court, while the normally rambunctious crowd is now a sparsely arranged group of parents permitted to watch their children play. But patrolling the Warlassies' sidelines are two of the most familiar sights in the program’s recent history.
Head coach Chasity Simpson, who took over the role in June, is the fifth person to fill the position in five years. To the older players on the roster she has been a common thread, serving as an assistant coach for seven years and providing consistency on a carousel of head coaches. She is also the link to an era of stability that spanned 25 years in the program’s storied history.
Simpson turned to her mentor, Tim Raines, even before she applied for the head coaching position. Raines was a fixture at his alma mater until he retired in 2017. He coached multiple sports throughout his teaching career at Owen, where he was the head coach for the junior varsity football team for 19 years and on the coaching staff of the varsity program for 23. He was the head coach of the Warlassies basketball team from 1992-2017, and coached Simpson when she played. Raines brought the current head coach onto his staff before the 2013-14 season.
“He was one of the first people I talked to when I was thinking about applying for the job,” Simpson said of Raines. “It was a no-brainer. Tim’s been such a great mentor and friend, I really needed him to tell me I could do this.”
Raines, who in his retirement serves on the Black Mountain Board of Aldermen and returned to Owen in 2018 to deliver the commencement address to the graduating class, was emphatic in his support of Simpson.
Chasity Simpson, head coach of the Owen Warlassies, and Tim Raines watch from the sideline in their team’s season opener, Jan. 4. Photo by Fred McCormick
“She deserved this job so much,” he said. “The girls have such a tremendous amount of respect for her because she’s been a consistent part of their lives, and they see how she’s come back each year under different coaches to keep that consistency. I knew she was the right person for this job.”
Simpson had an identical feeling about a position on her coaching staff, alongside Kristy Kamer and Chris Elder.
“I knew he could really help me in my first season as head coach,” she said of Raines. “We have a great relationship and I value his experience and advice, so I knew how much he would bring to the team.”
Out of coaching only three seasons, Raines was eager to return.
“I missed coaching so bad,” said Raines, who often watched his former team play in the three years he was away from the program. “It’s something I did for a quarter-century, and just being out there and working with the girls was always special to me.”
It was the support of another former Warlassies assistant coach that helped Raines become the successor to Western North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame coach Bill Rucker.
“The principal at that time offered the job to Sarah Horne Grindstaff, who had been Bill Rucker’s assistant, but she had a daughter who was about to play and she didn’t want to be the head coach of her daughter’s team,” Raines said. “She offered to help me for a few years, and that really helped me get my feet on the ground.”
Raines recently accepted a part-time position with the school as a distance learning lab assistant, and will return to the sidelines to coach football, at the conclusion of basketball season.
Chasity Simpson and Tim Raines reunite on the sidelines for the Owen Warlassies in different roles. Longtime head coach Raines is now the assistant to first-year head coach Simpson. Photo by Fred McCormick
His presence with the Warlassies during an unprecedented time has helped Simpson navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic during her first season. The Warlassies are the only team in the Western Highlands Conference that have yet to have to quarantine due to exposure to the virus.
“One thing I’ve been constantly preaching to the girls is that we all have to be safe,” Simpson said. “We owe it to our seniors to do whatever we can to make sure we don’t jeopardize their last season.”
While the players have done their jobs off the court, the relationship between Simpson and her coaching staff has helped the Warlassies on the court.
“This is a young team,” she said. “We have three seniors, but we also have a lot of younger players starting and playing regular minutes.”
The familiarity between Simpson and Raines set up a solid start for the team, which lost two straight games to open the season but rebounded by winning two of their next four. The roster, led by the scoring sophomore Carly Hancock and senior Hannah Larios, has offered glimpses of potential in a 66-44 victory over Haywood Christian Academy and a 43-26 win against Polk.
Senior Hannah Larios has been one of the leading scorers for the 2-4 Warlassies this season. Photo by Fred McCormick
“We have a lot of athleticism on this team,” Simpson said. “I’ve been happy with the way we’ve played so far, and these girls are committed to getting better every day. Even though this will be a shorter season than most, I think it’s going to be an exciting one for us.”
Raines couldn’t have imagined that he would be back on the sidelines, next to Simpson, just three years after retirement. However, adjusting to his new role for the Warlassies has been a relatively smooth transition.
Owen sophomore Carly Hancock led the Warlassies with 12 points in a home victory over Polk, Jan. 18. Photo by Fred McCormick
“It feels kind of the same, but also different,” he said. “For one thing, she drives the bus to our away games now. That’s nice because I can just get on and go for a ride and don’t have to drive like I used to. But, it’s also been rejuvenating for me to see her come in with a fresh approach and energy. I’m really enjoying being part of that.”
Raines was known for his fiery demeanor on the sidelines as a head coach for Owen, but the more laidback Simpson is helping her former coach tone it down.
“We had a couple of times early where he started to jump up and I told him to sit down,” Simpson chuckled. “But, I’m glad to see him there.”