Kevin Garst’s two daughters are 20 and 17 years old and for all their lives daddy’s been the coach of the Salem High basketball team. Well, that’s about to change.
Garst stepped down as coach of the Spartans after 20 years on the bench last Friday. The only time he hasn’t coached Salem during that time was in the delayed season of 2021 during COVID, when he took a year off for safety concerns.
“My oldest daughter was born during the ODAC tournament when I was coaching at Hampden-Sydney,” said Garst, who was an assistant for the Tigers at the time. “In October of that year I got the Salem job and I’ve been here ever since.”
It’s been a highly successful ride for Garst. His Spartans won the state championship in 2013 in what was then known as Group AA, Division 4. Salem beat Grafton, 56-48, on the same day the girls’ won the state championship. It’s one of the all-time highlights in 49 years of Salem High sports.
A life-long Salemite, Garst played recreation sports in Salem and was a player on the first Salem High basketball state championship team in 1994. He played for coach Charlie Morgan, who had a big influence on Kevin and stayed in touch with the program after moving to Tennessee.
In college Garst played for Tony Shaver at Hampden-Sydney. The Tigers made it all the way to the Division III championship game in 1999, playing in the final at the Salem Civic Center. Hampden-Sydney lost to the University of Wisconsin-Plattville in the final. Platteville was coached by Bo Ryan, who went on to become coach at the University of Wisconsin. The current Badger coach, Greg Gard, was an assistant to Ryan at Platteville.
Garst is leaving the program after a 19-4 season. Salem’s season ended with a loss to George Washington High of Danville in a thriller at Salem High in a very tough Region 4D tournament.
“I feel like I’m leaving the program in good shape,” said Garst. “I just felt like it was a good time to leave. I still enjoy it, and I still love the game, but it takes up a lot of time and if you’re not 100 percent on board you can’t do it. It’s nothing specific, my gut just told me it’s a good time to leave.”
Garst is married to the former Sarah Palmer, who was also a basketball standout at Salem High. They have two girls, Lauren who is in her second year at Virginia Western and Elizabeth who is a junior at Salem High.
Kevin jokingly assured that he wasn’t pushed out by Salem High’s new principal, his brother Jamie. The younger Garst, who played football and baseball at Salem, will be among the mix who picks a successor to his brother as basketball coach. Kevin will continue to teach business at Salem High.
“I’ve enjoyed my time as coach,” said Garst. “Drew Barrett (SHS Athletic Director) has been great and I’ve had the opportunity to coach a lot of good kids. I’m definitely thankful to have been afforded that opportunity.”
