Bio

In his opening remarks at a banquet celebrating a successful 2016-17 season, Sandhills Community College men's basketball Coach Mike Apple proclaimed, “We have the best basketball program not just in North Carolina, but in the nation.”

Coming off back-to-back district titles and trips to the national tournament the past two seasons, including the team's second national title in nine years under Apple last March, the coach can indeed make a strong case that Sandhills has one of the most successful junior college programs nationally.

Apple takes the Flyers into a 2021 season scheduled to begin in January with an overall record at Sandhills of 232-65. His teams have won five Region X titles, four district titles and qualified for the national tournament four times. They have won 25 or more games six times and 20 or more in every year, but one.

Following each of the the national championship seasons he was named both the NABC Junior College Coach of the Year (all divisions) and the NJCAA Division III Coach of the Year. He has also received district and region coaching awards.

Since they began playing their home games at the expanded Heins Gymnasium (The Hangar) in 2016, the Flyers have compiled a home record of 66-9, including a 28-5 mark in Region X contests.

The Flyers wrapped up their second NJCAA Division III national championship with a 93-89 victory over Mohawk Valley CC in Rochester, MN last March. Due to a shortening of the tournament because of COVID concerns, the semi-final and championship games were played on the same day.

The Flyers won their final 18 games on the way to a record of 34-2. The two losses were against ranked Division I squads. They were 5-0 against Division II competition and led the nation in scoring for the third time in Apple's tenure with an average of 103.6 points per game.

The first national title came in 2012 in Apple's first season at Sandhills. He succeeded Aaron Denton who had led the team in the first three years of the Flyer program. In 2018 he took on the additional responsibilities as athletic director, again succeeding Denton.

A first round buzzer-beater by Daquain Towns, and some final seconds defensive heroics in the second, helped put the Flyers into the 2012 championship game in Loch Sheldrake, NY where they defeated Cedar Valley (TX) 101-86 for the title. They won their final 11 games in a row to finish 30-6.

 The accolades poured in for Apple and his team alike. In addition to the coaching award, Markell Lotharp earned All-American honors and Towns was named the MVP of the tournament.

The Flyers players were rewarded with a trip through New York City (including the Empire State Building and Times Square) and later received a hometown welcome with a parade through Southern Pines atop vintage convertibles. Later, Apple as a coach and Lotharp participated in the NJCAA All Star game in Las Vegas.

In 2015, the Flyers finished sixth in the national tournament also held in New York. The 2019 squad took fifth place in Rochester, MN.

The Flyers led the nation in both scoring and steals last season with the same high-tempo offense and swarming defense that Apple has deployed successfully throughout his coaching career. In the 2012 championship game, 11 Flyers made it into the scoring column and the the non-starters outscored their Cedar Valley counterparts 54-16. In this year's title contest that was played on the same day as the semi-final that advantage played out again. Sayaun Dent led the way with 27 points as 10 Flyers scored and the margin for the non-starters was 37-14.

"Coach Apple told us there is no team in the country that can play back-to-back games against us,” sophomore Winston Bryan said afterward. “You saw what happened."

Player development has been one of the strengths of Apple and his coaching staffs. Thirty-five Flyers have gone on to continue their careers at four-year institutions with 23 of those earning scholarships. In addition to Lotharp, Flyers earning All-American recognition include Jeremias Easterling (2017), Mason Harrell (2018) and NJCAA and NABC Division III Player of the Year Dent (2020).

“Coach Apple epitomizes what’s right with college athletics: providing the opportunity for young people to grow athletically, academically, and morally,” says Ron Layne, VP for College Initiatives. “He brings these kids onto the Sandhills campus and shows them the possibility of a brighter future through hard work, discipline, and commitment.

“His two national championships are far less important to him than the success his players achieve after they leave here and find lives of meaning and purpose.”

In a special presentation made at a basketball game last January, Apple and volleyball coach Alicia Riggan were honored for reaching the 100 and 200 win milestones at the college with the unfurling of “The Banner of Coaching Centurions”.

"Few schools our size – in so few as nine years – have had coaches achieve such milestones in their careers,” Layne said at the time. “The notion of "Coaching Centurions" captured the echo of "100" with their accomplishments and we wanted it to be the centerpiece of The Hangar from the fans' viewpoint."

Apple was announced as the men's basketball coach at Sandhills Community College in April of 2011 after leading nearby Pinecrest High School to back to back conference regular season and tournament titles. In head coaching stints at Western Harnett HS (1998-2003) and Pinecrest (2003-2011) he rebuilt struggling teams into successful programs with ten visits to the NCHSAA playoffs. Including high school, he goes into this season with a total of 445 victories as a head coach.

A Moore County native, Apple attended Guilford College on a basketball scholarship after graduating from Union Pines High School. He returned home to teach and coach at Union Pines HS for 13 seasons before becoming a head coach at Western Harnett and then Pinecrest. He was a five time coach of the year recipient as well as two time teacher of the year.

Apple's experience also includes 19 years as a football coach and 18 years as a track and field mentor. He served on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Coaches Association from 2006-2010. He is a member of the Union Pines Hall of Fame both as an individual (class of 2007) and as the member of the 1980-81 basketball team (class of 2011). He joined the inaugural 2013 class of the Sandhills Athletics Hall of Fame with his 2012 National Champion basketball team.

“It has been extremely rewarding for me both professionally and personally to have the chance to be an instructor, athletic director, and basketball coach at Sandhills Community college,” Apple says. “The success we have had stems from the great support from our administration and community and the hard work put forth by our coaches and student-athletes. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity.”

Apple resides with his wife, Dawn, in nearby Lakeview. They have two adult sons Andrew and Will. Andrew and wife Nicole, both local optometrists, have two daughters, Madison and Amelia. Will is an attorney working for Crockett and Oldham in Southern Pines.

The coach's parents Lewis and Helen Apple are regular attendees at home games. Helen, an administrator at Sandhills for 33 years, was inducted into the Sandhills Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015 for her contributions to all aspects of the college, including student athletes.