Cougars’ current stability belies past flurry of changes
Fri. December 23, 2011 at 2:24 p.m. | By Chuck Carree | StarNews Staff Writer
Former South Brunswick head coach Kirk Brozy was one of six coaches in a seven-year span for the Cougars. (Photo by StarNews file)
By Chuck Carree
Chuck.Carree@StarNewsOnline.com
For the last five seasons, the South Brunswick High School football team has 41 victories and just 20 defeats.
It makes the lean years, 18 wins over eight years, seem eons ago. Gordon Walters transformed the program into a perennial playoff participant after inheriting a 1-9 squad. And current coach Roman Kelley has maintained the upward swing with a 24-13 record in three seasons.
Despite their struggles with the Cougars, their three predecessors follow the program intently, revel in the prosperity and remain partial toward the area they once called home.
The only constant is change
Let’s begin with Kirk Brozy, now the principal for two years at Woodland Elementary in Person County and an administrator for five years.
He was a coach for 22 years, mostly football and wrestling, and left South Brunswick following the 1998 season.
Brozy had been the Cougars’ defensive coordinator under Derrell Force, now a retired administrator. And Brozy and his extended family still vacation in the Southport-Oak Island area.
“That place will always be in my heart,’’ Brozy said. “Derrell Force said it best when he said when the sand gets between your toes it is memorable.’’
After succeeding Force, Brozy became part of a flurry of head football coaches, six in a seven-year span.
“The revolving door created turbulence among the students,’’ Brozy said. “Loyalties go out the window when a new coach comes in. When you are leading young men and they want to be loyal to the program, you are going to lose a few and gain a few with a new coach. That is always a difficult transition, and because of that, it created that vicious cycle.’’
Switching offenses also didn’t help. For instance, he installed the Wing T; while Force’s primary offense was the trap option.
Looking home
Next was Bob Sapp, who replaced Brozy and served as Cougars’ coach for two seasons.
Now retired, he often returns to Oak Island and sometimes encounters former players and fans.
The area also reminds him of the Outer Banks, where he once coached. But he found himself looking back toward home in Winston-Salem and eventually returned to his former job at Mount Tabor. He said he missed his grandchildren, while his aging mother became more ill. He resigned from South after the 2000 season.
“What I remember is the kids really wanted to win,’’ said Sapp, who went 6-14 in his two years. “We didn’t win a lot of games, but we were close in a lot of games.’’
He had a vision for the program. He launched youth camps, working with middle school and Pop Warner players.
Sapp still follows the Cougars’ program, perhaps closer than most. He remembers reading, with special interest, accounts of South Brunswick’s 48-42 overtime defeat at Currituck County in 3A playoffs in November. Sapp’s first job, ironically, was at Currituck.
Sapp was inducted into the Forsyth County Hall of Fame in 2009 and a year later into the first Mount Tabor Hall of Fame.
Wrong place, wrong time
Nothing, however, could match Eddie Price’s odyssey in 2002.
He was elevated from assistant to coach after Daryl Barnes resigned following his only season in 2001.
Price mapped out a game plan for principal Bob Wilkerson after Barnes’ 1-9 season. Price’s sole focus was making the team better, so he wanted coaches to round out his staff. But Wilkerson had more pressing classroom needs.
“He and I came to an agreement I might be too aggressive and wanted things to happen too quickly,’’ Price said. “I don’t think there was any animosity. I was just the wrong person at the wrong time.’’
Price resigned April 30, 2002, without coaching a game. By doing so, he believed he gave Wilkerson time to hire another coach before the summer. The Cougars hired Troy Kessinger, who remained through 2004.
Price returned home to care for his terminally ill grandmother and take night courses toward a degree in administration.
Now the principal at South Johnston High School, he no longer views things only through the eyes of a coach.
“What I have realized as an administrator, when someone is brought in as a principal, often there are other things that have to be fixed,’’ Price said. “In my view, I had football to fix. But in a principal’s view there are tons of things to fix. So our timeline did not mesh.
“It was tough for me to make sense of at the time. I felt at the time the worst thing that could happen is for the program to become transient. In my own words, I felt like I had let them down, but I knew I could not continue doing what I was doing. I was not bitter at the time, but just frustrated.’’
A decade later, he looks back warm-heartedly on the voyage.
“I have just fond remembers there and still follow them,’’ Price said. “The people were so gracious and inviting.’’
Chuck Carree: 343-2262