Former Gamecock assistant hired to lead Midlands boys basketball program

Former University of South Carolina assistant coach Cypheus Bunton has been named the new boys basketball coach at Spring Valley High School.

The move was made official at Tuesday’s Richland 2 School Board meeting.

Bunton replaces Perry Dozier, who announced his retirement in February after 15 seasons. Bunton, a Kentucky native, was an assistant coach under Dozier the last several years and is a senior deputy and school resource officer with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Bunton was an assistant coach at USC under Darrin Horn from 2008-10 and then during the 2011-12 season. He was the Gamecocks’ director of player development in 2010-11.

Bunton also coached with Horn at Western Kentucky from 2004-08 and came to Columbia when Horn took the Gamecocks job. Bunton and Horn were college teammates at WKU in the mid-1990s.

As a senior at Western Kentucky, Burnton averaged 10.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.7 blocked shots. He went on to play basketball overseas from 1995-2000 with stops in Finland, Sweden and England.

Bunton’s hire is the first for new Spring Valley athletic director Jeff DiBattisto, who was picked last month to replace retiring AD Tim Hunter. DiBattisto has been Dreher’s AD since 2018.

Spring Valley went 1-9 last season in the COVID-shortened season. The Vikings made the playoffs in 12 of the past 15 seasons and made it to the Class 4A Upper State championship game in 2016 before losing to Byrnes.

Spring Valley is in Class 5A and is one of the biggest schools in the state. The Vikings are in Region 4-5A with Blythewood, Ridge View, Northwestern and Rock Hill.

Bunton will be the second new coach in the region as Northwestern hired Lower Richland’s Caleb Gaither to replace John Bramlett.

Midlands basketball coaching openings

Boys

School — Former Coach — New Coach

Lower Richland — Caleb Gaither — TBA

Spring Valley — Perry Dozier — Cypheus Bunton

Dreher — Daryl Jarvis — TBA

Lugoff-Elgin — Brendan Marcell — TBA

Girls

A.C. Flora — Coral Johnson — Jacob Thompson

Airport — Jacob Thompson — TBA

Gray Collegiate — David Golden — Ashley Bruner

Northside Christian — Lucas Hargrove — Kristen Dickerson Fortenberry