ROANOKE, Va. – Tuesday morning, Union High School named Jamie Harless as the next head coach of the Bears football program. No stranger to southwest Virginia, Harless has spent the last 14 seasons at Lord Botetourt.
The Bears’ coaching position became vacant as the search continues for former Union Coach, Travis Turner, who went missing in November and is still being sought on charges of possessing child pornography and using a computer to solicit a minor. Despite the disapperance of their head coach, the Union High School Bears football team strung together 12 straight wins to remain undefeated and advance to a regional final. Turner has been missing since November.
In steps one of our area’s premier program builders, Coach Harless. Harless racked up 134 career wins in Daleville that included four region titles, and three state runner-up nods. His consistency guided him to become the first Lord Botetourt coach to reach 100+ wins.
“The thing that I want to be remembered the most about this place is, I think we had 14 kids go on and be college captains. To me, leadership is the ultimate harvest of all this,” said Harless about his legacy.
“I feel like I’ve got about 100 gold keys laying there to unlock any door I need to, for the help. I mean, it’s been, I can’t even describe the outreach. It’s been insane,” he concluded.
Harless was an Abingdon High School standout and Emory & Henry College Hall of Famer.