Lord Botetourt High School has a new athletic director, and just in time. Glenvar High alum Candace Underwood was approved for the position last week with school already in session.
Underwood didn’t have to go far to move her stuff. She’s been a Health and Physical Education teacher in Botetourt for 26 years and has moved her office from the LB gym to the AD digs high above the high school basketball court.
“I’m so very excited to be the new Athletic Director for Lord Botetourt,” she said. “I consider it such a privilege to be chosen to lead a school with such a strong tradition of success.”
Underwood has a solid background in high school athletics. A 1994 graduate of Glenvar High School, she was a member of the volleyball, softball and cheer teams for the Highlanders. She then studied at Virginia Tech and graduated in 1998.
Candace came to Lord Botetourt High School in 2001. She coached JV volleyball for the first three years then moved into the varsity head coaching job until 2008 when she stepped away to spend more time with her young children. In more recent years Candace came to Lord Botetourt High School in 2001. She coached JV volleyball for the first three years then moved into the varsity head coaching job until 2008 when she stepped away to spend more time with her young children.
In more recent years she has been serving the past two seasons as the assistant coach on the Unified Track team. As AD she will no longer be a teacher.
“It was bittersweet for me, after having spent the past 26 years teaching to leave the classroom,” she said. “But I’m excited to begin a new chapter working with student athletes in a new capacity.”
Another Cavalier also has local roots, as new Lord Botetourt head boys’ basketball coach Robert Hudson is a 2014 graduate of Salem High School.
Robert was a member of the 2013 Spartan team that won the Class 4 state championship, playing for coach Kevin Garst. “I still talk with coach Garst all the time,” he said.
Hudson has been a JV and varsity assistant coach at LB under Andrew Hart and Josh Aliveto. Before arriving at Lord Botetourt he spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Hidden Valley High School boys’ basketball program. Throughout his coaching career, he has earned a reputation for building strong relationships with student-athletes while emphasizing teamwork, discipline and character.
Robert inherits a team that went 7-16 and lost in the first round of the Region 3D tournament.
