The Destrehan athletic program is seeing considerable change for the coming school year, with several new hires in place to fill recently vacated positions – both on the coaching sideline and in administration.
The Wildcats have hired Khary Carrell to lead the boys basketball program, after former DHS head coach Troy Green stepped down to accept the same role at East Ascension. Adison Giambrone will step in as Destrehan’s new head volleyball coach, taking the helm for the departed Edward Borgstede. Jade Gallaher will be the school’s new girls’ head soccer coach, taking over for former coach Mert Deger. And Twalla Powell will join the school as its new head girls basketball coach, taking the helm after Jenn Miller. Christian Bailey will join the athletic program as strength and conditioning coach.
George McGovern and Jasper Vinnett will be stepping forward into athletic director positions following the retirement of retiring A.D. and head softball coach Kenneth Montz.
Each of those hires was finalized in the last few weeks, joining new softball head coach Craig Perrier Jr., who was named Montz’s successor in the dugout earlier this year.
Carrell, 45 and a native of Baton Rouge, takes over a boys basketball team that made a major leap under Green in what was the latter’s second and final season at DHS, earning a share of the District 7-5A championship and reaching round two of the 5A playoffs as a 9-seed after missing the postseason in 2021. Carrell is a graduate of McKinley, where he established a championship pedigree – he was a member of McKinley’s Class 4A state basketball championship team in 1993. He joined the Destrehan staff last year.
As it turns out, he is actually the second straight boys basketball coach to make the jump from White Castle – as Green was the boys basketball coach at WCHS, Carrell led the Lady Bulldogs program from 2016 to 2021, including a state semifinal appearance in 2020, a season before he would go on to be named the District 7-1A Coach of the Year. His record at White Castle was 48-54 overall. He also led Kenilworth Science and Technology School to the Baton Rouge Middle School Championship in 2014.
As its head volleyball coach, Giambrone guided No. 19 seeded Vinton to its first playoff victory in more than 20 years, a
three games to one win over Kenner Discovery last season. She has also served as head softball coach and assistant volleyball coach at St. Louis Catholic. This will he her eighth year as a coach. She brings both club and collegiate coaching experience as well, serving as an assistant on the Northwestern Oklahoma State University staff.
She was a standout collegiate athlete, earning her way into the 1,000 digs club at McNeese State as a four-year starter as setter and defensive specialist/libero. She has played the third most matches in that program’s history with 126.
Gallaher, a Slidell native and Northshore alum, is earning her first head coaching role with the Wildcats girls soccer program. She was a star prep player with the Panthers, earning All-District accolades while helping the Panthers earn state championship honors as the team’s goalkeeper. Gallaher taught at Destrehan last year.
Previously, she served as Goalkeeper Coach at E.D. White, and currently coaches club ball in St. Charles Parish. She said her goal for the program is to build a lasting soccer legacy for the Destrehan program that will inspire young girls in the community to play.
Powell has nearly 20 years of experience as a coach and educator, including a recent tenure at Riverdale as girls head basketball coach. In her playing days, she was a stellar athlete, scoring more than 1,000 points in four seasons at the University of New Orleans, leading the team in points per game in 1995-96 and ranking 10th in the Sun Belt Conference. At the same time, she competed in the heptathlon and various open events for the UNO track and field team.
While a prep star at St. Mary, she was named MVP in four sports and her high school jersey number was retired in basketball, volleyball, softball and track. She was named the USF&G Sugar Bowl Outstanding Female Athlete in the Greater New Orleans area in 1993. Powell said she believes her purpose is to help others develop and utilize their talents to maximum potential in life, and is turning her attention to helping DHS build a successful tradition on the basketball court.
McGovern has been a member of the Destrehan staff for 13 years as its athletic trainer and sports medicine teacher. A native of Chalmette, he has been involved in River Parishes athletics since 2005, after beginning with St. Charles Catholic as trainer. He is a graduate of Archbishop Hannan and earned his B.S. in athletic training from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Vinnett is a lifelong resident of St. Charles Parish and a 2005 graduate of Destrehan. He began his teaching career at Hahnville and served there for 12 years as a teacher and coach. This will be his first year at DHS, where he also serves in roles as special education teacher and assistant football coach. He earned his B.S. in business administration from Southeastern University and Masters with a concentration in teaching significant disabilities from UNO.
Bailey is an LSU graduate with a degree in kinesiology. He interned under former head strength coach Tommy Moffitt with the Tigers, during a time the LSU athletic program earned three national championships across its sports. He has worked with Ochsner Performance Training from 2019-2022, working with both high school and college programs. Notably, he worked with Rummel, which earned a state football crown in 2019, and with Holy Cross, where he trained 100 and 200-meter champion Krosse Johnson along with the 4×100 championship relay team. He also trained NFL athlete William Clapp prior to his two most recent signings with the New Orleans Saints and now the Los Angeles Chargers.
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