Gray Collegiate Academy introduced Carlos Powell the War Eagles’ new Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at a press conference Monday. Kathryn Cook, a Gray Collegiate guidance counselor, was introduced as the War Eagles’ new Head Girls’ Golf Coach.

Powell resides in Columbia with his wife, Tia and 3 children, Joydan, Graysen, and Cruz. Coach Powell, a graduate of Wilson High School and a former University of South Carolina alum, was selected as an all-SEC member and MVP of the 2005 NIT tournament.  He left South Carolina as the eighth leading scorer and finished with 1,541 points and 641 rebounds in 132 games.  After his college career, he had a 13-year pro career expanding across the globe and with two NBA teams, Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns.  Carlos will join a program that has won the last three State Championships in 2A, and six in school history. 

The War Eagles will play in Class 4A next season, and Carlos won the 4A State Championship at Wilson in 2022.  Powell joins another former Gamecock and teammate Brandon Wallace as one of  Gray’s basketball head coaches. Coach Wallace is the coach of the girls’ team at Gray, and he led them to the state championship in 2023.  

Kathryn Cook is a Guidance Counselor at Gray Collegiate and currently resides in Pelion with her husband, Brodie and her two children Pierson and Whitley. She is a graduate of Brookland-Cayce High School where she was on the All-Region Team for Golf and was the first female athlete to receive a golf scholarship at B-C.

After high school, Coach Cook attended and played Women’s Golf for Newberry College. Since playing in college Coach Cook has been an advocate to get young kids involved in golf and has been a part of many youth summer camps around the Midlands. Coach Cook took her love for golf to the next level by building a Girls’ Golf program from scratch (no pun intended) at Pelion High School. We look forward to bringing Coach Cook’s experience and enthusiasm to Gray to help build and grow our own elite Girls’ Golf Program.  

Dr. Newsome, Principal at Gray, said, “We hit a homerun with Carlos Powell and Kathryn Cook.  Carlos  comes from a championship program, at the 4A level, with the experience we need to build on our program at Gray.  I have always watched Carlos from afar, and he has the qualities that we look for in all of our head coaches at Gray. He is a proven winner, has had success on the collegiate and professional level, and has a great rapport with his players.  These are attributes that I appreciate in Carlos and I know he will keep our program in the National spotlight.  Kathryn has been a head golf coach before, and brings a winning attitude and tradition to our new program here at Gray. Anytime you add a sport at a school, you want a coach who has been there before, and Kathryn has that experience. She also has experience playing golf on the collegiate level, so our girls will gain that valuable experience as well. We are excited to have Kathryn leading our girls’ golf program at Gray”.