Charlotte’s newest high school, Ballantyne Ridge, names its inaugural football coach

Ballantyne Ridge High has turned to someone familiar with south Charlotte to serve as the school’s first head football coach.

Chris Redding, a former assistant coach at Ardrey Kell High, has been named head coach at the new school, which will open in August.

Redding spent the past two seasons as head coach at Berry Academy. He also has served as an assistant coach in college.

The new high school is off Johnston Road, north of I-485 and just 3 miles from Ardrey Kell. Ballantyne Ridge High was built to alleviate overcrowding at Ardrey Kell and several other south Mecklenburg high schools.

The Wolves will field a varsity football team in the 2024 season but will not have a senior class until the 2025-26 academic year.

Redding is a Bennington, Vermont, native who was named Offensive Player of the Year in 2012 as a receiver at Burr & Burton Academy in Vermont.

He played collegiate football from 2013-17 as a wide receiver at New Hampshire, twice playing on teams that were ranked among the top five in the FCS.

Redding was hired as an assistant coach at Ardrey Kell for two seasons, during which the Knights compiled a 17-4 record. He then became wide receivers coach/special teams assistant at UAlbany, an FCS school.

Redding returned to North Carolina 2022 as head coach at Berry Academy. In his two seasons there, the Cardinals compiled a 4-15 record. His teams featured balanced offenses that averaged nearly 300 yards a game. Redding announced in January that he was resigning as Berry’s head coach.

He still has a link to New England. In February 2021, Redding purchased Vermont All-Star Football Camps and runs that program each summer.