For two decades of Raider sports, “Coach Had” has been there to help student-athletes build their dreams while living his own 

RICHMOND COUNTY, N.C. — For the past 19 years, one Raider athletic trainer has taken care of student-athletes on the courts and fields at Richmond Senior High School. He’s the 911 for 16 sports and nearly 350 student-athletes in any given year, with a radio and cell phone at the ready to assist in a time of need. 

Known to many as “Coach Had,” he has spent hundreds, if not thousands, of evenings keeping an overwatch of Richmond Raider teams and visiting players from his Green Gator that quickly transports him and his tools of the trade between multiple sports fields.  

Mitchel Hadinger, 46, spends his days teaching Boys Strength and Conditioning classes, but when the dismissal bell rings for the afternoon, he’s the first responder to all the bumps, cuts, and muscle cramps at the practices and game days. Sometimes those game days start right after class and go well into the evening hours, with baseball, softball, track, tennis, and soccer often going on simultaneously.  

Rob Ransom, the Raider Athletic Director and head baseball coach, said Hadinger has a tremendous responsibility at the high school.   

“At a school this size with as many athletes that participate in sports, a good trainer is necessary, and we have one of the best,” said Ransom. “We are very fortunate to have Coach Had. We could never thank him enough for the services he provides to students.” 

No one day is the same for Hadinger, as the staff calls him at the first sign of a potential injury to an athlete. Within minutes, he gathered his bag and headed to the player that needed help. 

His small all-wheeled vehicle probably has more miles than many cars in Richmond County. It’s used to carry bags of ice, first-aid kits, crutches, and people. On most nights, he can be sitting behind the steering wheel at a distance, watching a game, and talking to a former student. Look away for one second, and he’s gone to assist a player on the other side of the Raider campus, only to be back a few minutes later.  

Coach Had looks at Jadden Jenks during a football game against Butler High School on Sept. 23, 2022, at Richmond Senior High School. (Photo by Mark Bell)

Some see him as the guardian angel of Raider Sports. 

By the eighth grade, Hadinger said he wanted to care for athletes. He played cross country, basketball, and track and field in high school and needed a plan after his NBA career. That basketball career didn’t go past high school graduation, but four years earlier, as a freshman, he was introduced to the career as an athletic trainer through his own injuries. 

“Throughout my high school career, I suffered other injuries and had opportunities to meet other athletic trainers,” he said. “My school did not have an athletic trainer, so my athletic director would call in favors to get me seen.” 

That athletic director is now in the Hall of Fame in Columbia, S.C., and played for ten years in the NFL. 

“He knew what an athletic trainer was and how they could help,” he said. “I ended up working with one of those same athletic trainers who examined me in high school during my college years.” 

He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1998 with a B.S. in Athletic Training and continued at Auburn University, where he graduated in 2000 with an M.Ed. in Exercise Science. 

Before coming to the Raiders, Hadinger’s resume includes an internship with the Capital City Bombers, a farm team of the New York Mets, worked at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., and most importantly, the opportunity to be a part of the Kenny Howard-Hughston Sports Medicine Fellowship. 

The fellowship is a joint venture of Auburn University, the Hughston Clinic, East Alabama Medical Center, and the Human Performance and Rehabilitation Center. The program aims to educate certified athletic trainers and provide health care to adolescent and pediatric athletes. 

One of Hadinger’s biggest supporters is Richmond Raider head football coach Bryan Till, who said he is there for practices and all football games to ensure the players are protecting their bodies during all aspects of the sport. 

“Coach Had is an integral part of our day-to-day operations, not just when a student gets injured,” Till said. “He helps prevent injuries as much as treat them by being involved with our physical education department, counseling players on healthy habits, preparing practice fields with water, and being aware of how heat can affect our practices early on.” 

One classroom teacher described him as one of the most intelligent persons on campus, if not in the county. His vast knowledge of various critical topics and his calm demeanor during an injury bring an essential toolbox of skillsets to ensure the safety of the student-athletes and staff.  

“In the cases of injuries, Coach Hadinger does the initial evaluation, communicates with parents and medical providers, and then is able to convey the next steps to both the athletes and coaches,” Till said.  

Those next steps are critical to helping the player and parents understand following the steps to a safe, healthy return to the sport. Hadinger’s knowledge and experience support the entire Raider sports family in knowing about the injury process, treatment, rehabilitation, and bracing. 

Bennie Howard, a long-time soccer coach for the Raiders, said being a high school athletic trainer takes work. “The athletic trainer is always strapped with supplies due to budget funding, but Coach Had has always provided a box of tape, bandages, spray, and other essentials for our soccer teams,” he said. “He’s a credit to Richmond Senior High School.” 

Howard has coached 30 seasons with boys’ soccer and 24 seasons with girls’ soccer and has known Hadinger since he arrived on the Raider campus. A friend and a colleague, Howard, said he is a critical piece in the Raiders’ success on the field and in the classroom. 

Hadinger doesn’t hesitate or take shortcuts when it comes to the safety and health of student-athletes. 

“When an athlete is injured, he will not clear him until he has completed all rehabilitation for that injury,” Howard said about the importance of Hadinger’s role as an athletic trainer. 

When not wrapping up the ankles of Raider players, he is helping keep coaches get certified in CPR and AED during the summer months to ensure student-athlete safety is paramount. 

In Richmond County, young players do great things and eventually go off and play sports in college. Hadinger said he hopes he had a positive impact on players, and that they learn a little from his interactions in the classroom and sports. 

One of those students from a few years past is now the junior varsity basketball coach at the high school and said Hadinger was an integral part of his basketball career.  

“My most memorable moment with Coach Had is when he helped me recover from knee surgery in my senior year,” said Coach Josh Calhoun, a first-year coach, and teacher. “Not knowing if I would be able to play at all, he helped me recover and gave me encouraging words to have faith that everything would be okay while playing.” 

Calhoun said Hadinger taught him life lessons that he applies today to his basketball players and students in the classroom. 

“As a player, he taught me that nothing in life is easy, and I still apply that to my everyday life now,” he said. “He is and always has been hard on his students to help prepare them to understand that nothing is just given to you in life. You have to work for everything you want.” 

Today, Calhoun leans on the experience Hadinger brings to the practices and games. No longer a young 17-year-old basketball player in the Raider uniform, Calhoun said the bond they created during those younger years reflects today as each look to the other for advice and have conversations about the good memories not so long ago. 

“It feels great being able to work with him now,” Calhoun said. “I am able to truly trust him with all my players because I have witnessed all the athletes/students he has helped, trained, coached, and taught over the years. He always has been and will always be great at what he does.” 

Hadinger is well-known as a team player. Till said he always goes the extra mile to help and will do anything to assist the Richmond Raiders student-athletes to perform at the best of their abilities and represent the Richmond Raiders with pride. 

“He has helped redo sound systems, scoreboards, and a huge number of other program-related tasks just because he has abilities others don’t,” he said. “He is truly an asset to our school system in every sense of the word.” 

Ransom said Hadinger is a critical member of the Raider team at all levels to ensure student-athletes are prepared to play high school sports in North Carolina. 

“He makes sure our teams have everything they need before practices start,” Ransom said. “He attends all varsity sports and all football practices,” he said. “He is a first responder to students needing attention during the school day as well. Along with teaching a full load of classes.” 

At the end of the late-night games, when the field lights are turned off, and fans have emptied the parking lot, people might see an unattended vehicle in the distant corner. It’s not broken down, but Coach Had was still doing last-minute work to ensure the following day is ready for the Raider athletes to participate in sports.  

He’s not that NBA star or an orthopedic surgeon he hoped to be as a teenager, but looking back at his nearly 20 years helping Raider athletes, none of that really mattered anyhow. It was a dream, but dreams are quickly forgotten after waking up, and new ones are created the next night. He’s happy and enjoying life helping others.

“I am doing what I am supposed to be doing,” Hadinger said. “There are days that are frustrating, and that reality gets lost, but as most athletic trainers will tell you, having the opportunity to help, in this case, student-athletes, achieve their goals, sometimes despite themselves, is rewarding.” 

Being with the Raiders is challenging and has helped Coach Had fine-tune his skills as a seasoned athletic trainer.

“I will argue that the high school setting is probably the most interesting in terms of a diverse population with diverse needs with diverse potential outcomes; coordinating patient care can be quite interesting; there is very rarely a dull moment,” he said.