Longtime Trojans coach retires from school district after 30 years

Julie Floyd retires after 30 years teaching in the Nye County School district and will also step down as the head of the Trojans girls golf team. Her last teaching post was with Floyd Elementary school where she taught physical education.

Floyd was a well decorated teacher and received teacher of the year in 2013 as well as being inducted into the Pahrump Valley High School Athletic Hall of Fame that same year for her 30 years of coaching.

Floyd retires but says she will do as much coaching as she can.

“I am still going to help with golf and I am still going to coach junior high golf, but Bob Hopkins is taking over my high school team,” Floyd told the PVT on Monday. “I am going to help them when I can. I am going to go out and play with the girls when I can. I know how much work it takes and the more adults you have working with the girls the better. I will also still be active in junior golf with clinics and kids as long as I can.”

She said she loved working with all the young men and women over the years and she loved watching them develop over the years into successful men and women. She said it was hard to pick out the best of times in her 30 years.

“Coaching wise I have five state championships over the years and it makes me proud we were able to do that,” she said.

Floyd won the state titles in the following years: 1997, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Although Floyd did enjoy the big moments like winning the state title she also said she got a lot of enjoyment from just helping students become better people.

“I just had a big retirement party and one of the girls I had coached had written me a letter. It was a nice letter and she thanked me for the coaching and for the good advice. That made me feel good to get a nice letter like that. It is very rewarding working with young kids. I will miss the daily interactions with the kids,” she said.

Floyd will also be missed by her fellow coaches.

Bob Hopkins, the new girls Trojans golf coach, said he had worked with Julie for eight years.

“Julie did a great job and worked hard with the girls golf program. She was very successful and Steve and I have big shoes to fill. She will be happy in retirement I am sure,” he said.

Frank Cox, who is the Pahrump Valley junior golf director, worked with Floyd on the middle school team, the high school team and in junior golf and had this to say.

“She is an awesome golf coach. She was just good on all levels. She was good with the kids, a great teacher, she was dedicated and she did a great job,” Cox said.

Floyd was asked what she will do with all her time now that she is retired and she replied, “I just want to slow down and I am ready to go into that next phase of life. It’s like when you are a college kid, you get that first job, you get your first home and it is exciting to me to make that adjustment.”

To Floyd, slowing down means keeping a busy schedule. You will find Floyd keeping to that schedule and teaching body sculpting classes at a local gym.

“I am so busy. I do golf in the fall and spring. I want to slow down a bit with my schedule. My son plays four sports a year. I just want to watch his sports. Kids keep you busy. I love to garden and I love to travel,” she said.

Although she retired from high school sports, Floyd plans on still coaching her son’s golf team at the middle school.

“I still love coaching and I would not have done it for so long if I did not love it so much. I will phase myself out of it slowly. I can see myself coaching for the next few years. Who knows? I might stay a while and coach junior high kids and help out. If it works out with my schedule, I will keep coaching. I just feel that when there is an adult who knows how to play golf and can give these kids valuable information on the course, it makes all the difference,” she concluded.