White Knoll hiring championship-winning coach to lead football program
White Knoll’s football program accomplished a lot in the past five seasons.
Now, Victor Floyd hopes to continue that momentum and take the Timberwolves one step further with a state championship.
Floyd, the Chester High coach, was officially introduced as the new head coach at White Knoll on Friday.
“We already have the season theme as the next step,” Floyd said. “I look at this program and the great job coach (Nick) Pelham did and the position it is in right now. That is the only thing is the next step.”
Floyd was thought to have been WK’s top choice to replace Nick Pelham, who left last month to be the first head coach at the new Lake Wylie High School in Clover. Pelham led the Timberwolves to a Region 4-5A title and the program’s first trip to the Class 5A championship in 2023.
White Knoll’s 29 wins over the past three years are the most in a three-year span in school history.
Floyd said the program will be built on his five core principles, called “The Wolf Way.” They include commitment, discipline, sacrifice, toughness and unity.
“Those are the pillars I have used in 20-some-odd years (of being a head coach),” Floyd said. “Young men have taken them right into the world and used them as men. It is a value system that will be successful.”
Floyd has been at Chester for two different stints, from 2004-07, then returning in 2015 after seven seasons at Brunswick High in Georgia. He said that leaving the Cyclone program was tough but couldn’t pass up the chance to coach on the Class 5A level.
Floyd called returning to the Midlands, where he began his head coaching career at Columbia’s CA Johnson High School in 1998, a “full circle moment.”
Floyd led Chester to two state title game appearances in 2007 and 2018. The 2018 squad went 15-0 and won the Class 3A championship. It was Chester’s first state championship since schools were integrated in the 1970s.
“I have been coaching 33 years and 15 have been in Chester,” he said. “It was tough to leave but like I told the young men when I talked to them, we prepare them for opportunities and have to do the same for ourselves.”
Floyd has won 146 games and four region titles in his coaching career, which also included Dudley (N.C.) from 2001-03 and C.A. Johnson. He saw a C.A. Johnson program that went from winless in his first year to five victories two seasons later.
White Knoll went 8-4 last season and made it to the third round of the Class 5A Division II playoffs. The Timberwolves will be in Class 5A next year, with the classification not splitting divisions, and in the same region with Dutch Fork, Chapin, River Bluff and Lexington.
Dutch Fork has won nine state championships in the last 10 seasons.
“There is a huge mountain that everyone talks about that is called Dutch Fork,” Floyd said. “You got to have the mentality or the belief you can get over the hump to take the next step.”
The Timberwolves have several key pieces returning next season, including starting quarterback Jhais McKiever. Floyd referenced McKiever during his interview Friday and the strong nucleus on defense, which lost starting safety James Smith, who transferred to Dutch Fork.
Floyd said his first day at White Knoll likely will be Feb. 12 and he is in process of putting together a coaching staff. He said he plans on bringing some coaches from Chester with him.
With White Knoll’s hire, there are two openings in the Midlands, at A.C. Flora and Pelion.
SC Football Coaching Openings
School — Former Coach — New Coach
AC Flora — Ken Floyd — TBA
Andrews — Scott Durham — TBA
Belton-Honea Path — Russell Blackston — TBA
Chapin — Ryan Cole — Cory Helms
Chester — Victor Floyd — TBA
Clover — Perry Woolright — TBA
Colleton County — Adam Kinloch — Bradley Adams
Conway — Josh Pierce — Jody Jenerette
Goose Creek — Jason Winstead — TBA
Green Sea Floyds — Patrick Martin — TBA
Lake Wylie — (School opens in 2026) — N/A — Nick Pelham
Liberty — Paul Sutherland — Bobby Ruff
McCormick — Leroy Collier — TBA
Marion — Brian Hennecy — TBA
May River — Richard Bonneville — TBA
Ninety-Six — Matthew Bennett — Austin Sargent
North Myrtle Beach — Greg Hill — Perry Woolbright
Pelion — Cory Helms — TBA
South Florence — Drew Marlowe — TBA
St. James — Tommy Norwood — Stephen Cagle
Sumter — Mark Barnes — TBA
Union County — Quinnon Isom — Bryan Robinson
Wagener-Salley — Blaze Gillespie — TBA
Whale Branch — Willie White (interim) — TBA
White Knoll — Nick Pelham — Victor Floyd
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 7:53 PM with the headline "White Knoll hiring championship-winning coach to lead football program."
