After just one season back on the Friday Night sidelines in Burke County, head coach Chris Deal announced to his Patton High football players Monday afternoon that he was resigning to take the offensive coordinator position at Emerald High School in Greenwood, S.C.
“This is never easy,” Deal said in a phone interview Monday evening. “And I’m leaving a great group of kids behind. I hate it for them.
“But they’re going to be resilient and keep that team together. And whoever comes in next (as head coach), I know they’ll keep fighting.”
In 2010, the Panthers enjoyed their best campaign in the school’s three years of varsity football, finishing 6-6
overall. But the team struggled to six consecutive defeats after a 6-0 start, and was just 1-5 in South Mountain 2A/3A Conference play, losing 42-0 at Hibriten in the first round of the NCHSAA 3A state playoffs.
“I had never been around a team that, as a unit, made that much improvement that quickly,” Deal said. “The decision was hard. But staff-wise, we lost some good (assistant coaches) this offseason and that hurt, definitely.
“I think (Patton) will do their best to work things out, but I don’t know how much they can do,” Deal said of Burke County Public Schools’ current hiring freeze and potential teacher cuts before next school year.
Deal, a 1995 Lenoir-Rhyne University graduate and former offensive lineman, built a reputation for turning around programs quickly in his first two prep head coaching stops. He guided Alexander Central to nine wins just five years after winning two games in his first season, and led Lexington to the program’s best season in 20 years in 2009, when the team made a run to the 2A state semifinals.
“Everyone at Patton has been great to me the entire time I’ve been here,” Deal said. “Both principals (Tim) Davis and (Debbie) Kendall, as well as athletic director (Rich) Linens have been nothing but supportive.”
Deal, 57-66 all-time as a head coach, will direct the offense for an Emerald High Vikings team that went 5-6 in 2010, including a first-round loss in the South Carolina High School League’s 2A state playoffs.
Emerald is coached by former Freedom High head coach Tim McMahon (1995-2005). McMahon was 90-41 over his 11 seasons with the Patriots, and followed with a successful stint at Anson County High in Wadesboro before heading to South Carolina. The Vikings have not had a winning season since 2005.
“We worked together a couple seasons at Freedom,” Deal said of McMahon. “He’s one of my best friends and I know what kind of man he is; he does things the right way.”
Patton will now begin the process of looking for its third head football coach, all in the past 18 months. Deal resigned from Lexington on Feb. 4, 2010, to take over the Panthers after the controversial departure of the program’s first coach, J.K. Adkins.
Attempts to contact Patton High School for a comment were unsuccessful Monday night as of presstime.
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