BY JIMMY SHOCKLEY, Eastern Shore Post —
An Accomack County native and Holly Grove Christian School graduate has been named head coach for Randolph College women’s cross-country and track and field teams.
Meghan Chaffins, who grew up in Temperanceville and graduated from Holly Grove in 2017, attended Randolph College as a student prior to accepting the job of head coach at just 27 years old.
“I feel like I bring a lot of passion to the table and want to make the program better,” Chaffins said about her recent promotion from interim to permanent head coach.
Randolph College is in Lynchburg. Chaffins is the daughter of William Chaffins, of Temperanceville.
Chaffins attended Holly Grove, which is located near Westover, Md., from kindergarten through 12th grade.
In seventh grade, Chaffins broke the Holly Grove record for the long jump.
That’s when her coach, the late Hallie Gregory, saw potential in Chaffins that she didn’t see in herself.
“He was the coach in my life that saw something in me,” Chaffins said of Gregory, a highly accomplished coach and athletic director who worked for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and other schools. Gregory died in 2017.
It’s a mindset that Chaffins says she has carried into her own coaching career.
“I’m a huge advocate for giving kids a chance. If someone has dedication and passion, I want to help them succeed,” she said.
Chaffins said that getting the position of head coach at a college at just 27 years old was not easy.
After earning her master’s degree in coaching and sports leadership, Chaffins worked at Regent University in Virginia Beach for a year, then worked at Heidelberg University in Ohio for two years but began to miss family and friends.
She reached out to Randolph College asking if any positions were available.
The only one available was for distance running, a sport in which Chaffins had never participated — but she was willing to give coaching it a shot.
Later, the head women’s track and field coach left, and Chaffins jumped at the chance, which she said had an intense hiring process.
Chaffins was on the volleyball and track and field teams while she was an undergraduate at Randolph. She graduated with seven school records in track and field, four of which still stand.
In 2021, she was named Randolph College Women’s Athlete of the Year.
In her new role, Chaffins is preaching much of what her past coaches taught her — not only in athletics, but also in the classroom.
“It’s not just what you do on the track, it’s me preparing you for your next steps of life,” she said.
