WEST COLUMBIA, SC -- A football coach and teacher with more than a decade of experience with South Carolina high school teams has been tapped for the top athletics post at Airport High School.
Shane Fidler, who is currently head football coach at the Class 5A Ashley Ridge High School in Summerville, is Airport’s new athletic director and head football coach. The hire was recommended by Lexington Two Superintendent Dr. Brenda Hafner and approved by the Board of Trustees at its April 18 meeting.
“My family and I are very excited to join the Airport Eagles community,” Fidler said. “The leadership at Airport and in Lexington Two, along with the facilities and student-athletes, made wanting to be a part of this an easy choice. We look forward to arriving and getting to work as soon as possible supporting athletics and building the football program.”
Fidler took the Ashley Ridge High School football program from 2 wins to 7 over his three seasons there, with last year’s team scoring more than 60 points twice in the season for the first time in school history. Fidler has grown the school’s varsity and JV football programs from 93 players to 173, even adding a second JV team. Prior to that, Fidler was head coach and co-athletic director at Waccamaw High School for three seasons, where he doubled player participation and turned the team into a winning program during his tenure. From 2010-early 2017, Fidler served as an assistant coach focused on offense at Colleton County High School, Eau Claire High School, and Gray Military Academy.
Along with coaching duties, Fidler launched various initiatives to engage players and families at the schools he’s served, among them middle school signing days, a football clinic for moms, free youth football camp, and tutoring for players. He has been active with the American Football Coaches Association and was selected in 2019 to the organization’s 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute, one of just two high school coaches in the United States to be invited. He was the SCHSSCA 3A State Strength Coach of the Year in 2019 and has led several clinics on football skills and programs. Fidler received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of South Carolina.
“I am truly excited to welcome Coach Fidler and his family to Airport High,” said Airport Principal Matt Schilit. “It was very important to me to find a coach with strong experience, a passion for all sports, leadership skills, and most importantly a heart for students. Coach Fidler meets all of these needs and will certainly make us a stronger school.
“Our student athletes deserve nothing but the best,” Schilit added, “and Coach Fidler will be a big part of providing that opportunity for all.”
Fidler will begin his new role full time on July 1.