Beaufort County Schools has selected former East Columbus girls basketball coach Jon Scharpenberg as the next Washington High School athletic director. The decision was made official last week when the board approved the new hire.

Before coming to eastern North Carolina, the Washington State native spent 11 years as an assistant basketball coach at his alma mater, Central Washington, a Division II school, while also teaching physical education in the Ellensburg, Wa. school district.

In his one year at East Columbus, Scharpenberg, who also served as athletic director, navigated the Gators girls’ basketball team to the fourth round of the NCHSAA Class 1-A playoffs. The team finished 19-6 on the season and went undefeated in the Three Rivers Conference.

Scharpenberg said it was the aesthetics and pride for high school athletics that drew him to Beaufort County.

“If you want a quality sports program — and I’ve been around a lot of them — you have to get everyone going in the same direction with the same expectations,” Scharpenberg said. “You get the community behind the sports teams and make that partnership. I know that occurs here already, so it’s not like I have to start from scratch. That’s exciting to me to have that support.”

Scharpenberg will also take over as head coach of the Pam Pack girls’ basketball team, which went 7-11 in its final season under Allison Jones.

“I was fortunate to be around a lot of coaches that know how to build programs,” he said. “My expectation is to win a state title. I wanted to come to a place where they expect to win and expect to be good. That’s one of the things that attracted me to Washington.”

Scharpenberg has three children. All will attend Beaufort County public schools.