RED SPRINGS — As a new volleyball season begins, the Red Springs team got its campaign underway with a new coach at the helm — one who’s quite familiar with the program.

Tariah Ferguson is the team’s new head coach, taking over at her alma mater to replace Nicole Strickland.

“It’s a good opportunity because I’m from Red Springs, and … from Robeson County,” Ferguson said. “I’m so happy; I keep saying this, I’m giving back to my community. I’m coming back home from a four-year university, thinking I wasn’t going to come back home, when home was the only person giving me an opportunity, to make a difference, and also giving me an opportunity with a coaching position.”

Ferguson, 24, is a 2018 Red Springs alumnus who went on to graduate from Winston-Salem State University. This is her first varsity head coaching job; she previously coached JV volleyball, as well as middle school basketball and volleyball at Red Springs Middle School, where she teaches physical education.

“She’s from the area, community-wise. She’s played the sport, she’s been around, and she’s young, eager and willing to help mold the youth,” Red Springs athletic director Adam Deese said.

Ferguson said she wants to mentor kids in the Red Springs community, just as the coaches who she played under did for her, including Steven Sinclair, who is now the Red Springs High School principal, Strickland and Whitney Steen.

“I grew up with great role models, and those were my coaches, along with my mom of course. It’s taking what I’ve learned, and tweaking it a little bit,” Ferguson said. “I’m 24 years old, and it’s just awesome to be able to coach and inspire and motivate at such a young age.”

She’s looking to revive a Red Springs volleyball program that has won three games or less in every season since 2018.

“She brings a ton of energy, she has a lot of charisma around her and I think that can rejuvenate the program,” Deese said.

Ferguson hopes that she can help a bigger turnaround of girls sports at Red Springs, which have collectively struggled in recent years.

“The first goal is change,” Ferguson said. “One thing I did analyze, in girls sports at Red Springs, it kind of has went downhill. So I want us to, not to be the talk of the town, but to give them something to talk about, especially in the female world, the female athlete world, and just to see change.”