By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Brad Costa became the new athletics director at Eastern Alamance since the end of the past school year, though he had been tabbed for that position in the spring.
He takes the vacancy left by John Kirby, who in addition to coaching the Eagles’ football team since 1992 had added athletics director duties at the high school for more than a decade.
Costa said becoming an AD was something he felt would be a good fit for him.
“It was always a longtime goal for me,” Costa said. “But I was hoping he would go on forever.”
Costa coached Eastern’s boys’ basketball team for three seasons, stepping away from that role in the spring of 2023. He spent eight seasons in some capacity with basketball teams at the school.
Costa, 31, has finished nine years at Eastern – eight as a social studies teacher and one year as the school instructional specialist. He’s expected to return to teaching social studies for a half-day in addition to his AD duties.
Kirby announced in the winter that he was retiring, though he maintained a teaching position and AD role through the end of the school year. Western Alamance alum Mitch Mitchener is the new football coach.
Kirby’s absence will be just part of changes related to Eastern’s sports programs. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association is expanding its classifications after the upcoming school year, though the process in putting that together will be in full swing soon.
“We’re going to be realigning,” Costa said. “That’s going to be a big change regardless of who’s the AD.”
In recent years, Eastern has been a Class 3-A school. That’s the second-largest classification, with the Eagles claiming team state championships in softball (2019, 2022) and girls’ soccer (2023) across the past several years.
Eastern could be impacted by a dip in enrollment, largely stemming from the opening last August of Southeast Alamance High School. The makeup of Eastern’s student body could be a bit of an unknown, albeit evolving.
“With Mebane growing the way it is, you really have no idea what it’s going to look like,” Costa said.
