Kirby Dean is the former head basketball coach at Waynesboro High School and EMU, a Division III program he took to the Elite Eight in 2010 in a seminal moment in the school’s athletic history.
But the Spotswood High School graduate and former EMU star has been at a higher level the past few seasons – as an analyst on broadcasts of JMU men’s basketball games for ESPN+ that has brought him back to his Division I roots.
Dean, a former assistant coach at VMI in Lexington, resigned from the head job at EMU in 2018 to become the director of parks & recreation for Rockingham County. He has been a commentator for most of the past three seasons with play-by-play man Curt Dudley, a Bridgewater College graduate and long-time fixture with JMU Athletics. Dean did a few games at the end of the 2023-2024 campaign, then most of the home games the past two seasons.
“I did not pursue this gig at all,” said Dean, before a JMU home game this past season. “Curt just called me out of the blue. The previous (color guy) was retiring and moving on. I told Curt, I can describe what I see. He said, That is exactly what we want.”
“He is very good at it. He breaks down the x’s and o’s. Every time we bring him in, there is like a social media cheer” for the local product, Dudley said of Dean.
After playing at Spotswood and EMU, Dean was an assistant coach at VMI for eight seasons. One of his fellow assistants with the Keydets was Kenny Brooks, the former Waynesboro High School and JMU guard who is now the women’s coach at Kentucky after earlier success at JMU and Virginia Tech.
VMI days
While at VMI, Dean coached the likes of stars Darryl Faulkner, Radee Skipworth and Jason Conley, the latter of whom led the nation in scoring as a freshman in 2001-2002 at 29.3 points per contest.
Conley eventually transferred to Missouri, while Faulkner and Skipworth played pro ball overseas. Xavier Skipworth, the son of Radee, is considered one of the top high school basketball players in the country in his class.
“If I was a young guy coming out of high school now, I don’t think this (coaching career) is what I would pursue,” Dean said.
Dean is not a big fan of the transfer portal.
“Are you going to hit the portal (later in life) when the job doesn’t go your way or your marriage” is strained, he asked. “You have to dig in sometimes to make it work. It is hard to have relationships when you only have a kid for one year.”
He notes some of his EMU star players may have looked to transfer if NIL existed while Dean was calling the shots for the Royals.
After VMI, Dean was the head coach at Waynesboro for one season, in 2002-2003. “The program was struggling a bit. We struggled mightily early in the year,” he said. “Later in the season, we lost some kids and consolidated our roster. I started a freshman at the point guard.”
Late in the season, the Little Giants won three games in a row – against Spotswood, Lee (now Staunton High) and Turner Ashby, which featured future Major League shortstop Brian Bocock. Waynesboro made the district tournament, but lost to Staunton.
EMU run
After that season, Dean was hired by former EMU Director of Athletics Larry Martin to turn around the Royals program – and he did.
Taking over a team that won three games the previous season, EMU had the four best seasons in school history under the coach who grew up in Keezletown.
Dean coached in Park View for 15 seasons before taking the job in 2018 with Rockingham County. With the Royals, he posted a mark of 201-195 while facing perennial powers in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference such as Randolph-Macon, with a mark of 156-114 in the last 10 seasons.
Dean still feels EMU could have won the national title in 2010 if not for an injury that February to Austin Twine, a top player.
What does he miss about coaching?
“That is easy – just being around the guys, having them out to my house for Sunday lunch and watching football or going to church,” Dean said. “We (helped with) Special Olympics at EMU. We just did not show up on a Saturday, we were with them a lot. Those are the things I miss. I don’t miss the recruiting, and I don’t miss the tough losses.”
Dean has been approached about coaching at the high school level since he left EMU, but declined. He and his wife, Regina, have a daughter, Maycee, a senior outfielder this spring for the Spotswood softball team. She had a grand slam in late May in a game against Wilson Memorial and was All-Region 3C. She is looking to play club softball if she attends JMU.
Her father has enjoyed being around home more since he left EMU.
He gets his basketball kicks doing JMU games – something he hopes to continue next season.
From rival colleges, Dean and Dudley have a solid chemistry on the air. It was a no-brainer to be part of the broadcasts, Dean said, noting he lives just a few minutes from the Atlantic Union Bank Center at JMU.
“Curt, he is like the consummate professional,” Dean said. “I just wanted to stay out of his way. He could be doing (broadcasting) at any level – he is that good. If I can just add to what he is doing … I don’t have any aspirations for this to flourish into anything bigger. I do it because I enjoy basketball. I am not going to scream and yell and use hyperbole.”
Augusta County ties
Dean’s 2010-2011 team at EMU had a strong Augusta County flavor: Todd Phillips of Waynesboro, Eli Crawford of Staunton High and Cutter Chisnell of Riverheads. The roster also included George Johnson, who played at the Miller School of Albemarle, and R.J. Sims, who is from Maryland and played pro ball in Lithuania and France. Johnson played for a semi-pro team in Richmond.
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Chris Graham
