Garinger football has had 10 coaches since 2000. Its most recent one resigned this week.
Garinger High football coach Jeff Caldwell told the Observer Wednesday that he is resigning.
Caldwell, whose resignation is effective immediately, coached the Wildcats for three seasons. His teams were 5-28.
Before Caldwell arrived, Garinger had five straight winless seasons.
“I think it’s just time,” Caldwell said. “The original principal who hired me (Kelly Gwaltney) wanted to establish a program and she wanted to give the kids hope and get things established. The kids are calling me to lift weights now, so that ‘program mindset’ is on them now.
“This is a good break for me. When you’re at a school like Garinger, you have to really work. It’s time for a change. I think what we accomplished was good. It’s on the upswing. (Gwaltney, who left in 2018) wanted the best for our kids. She wanted them to be competitive, have hope and feel loved and try hard.”
Caldwell said he will coach golf at Garinger this spring, as he has done since he was hired. He said he was proud that his football program had produced multiple all-conference players and had six players sign college scholarships. Caldwell, who said he’s been contacted by other schools about coaching openings, expects a few more Garinger players to sign scholarships next month.
“They hadn’t had that before,” Caldwell said. “But now I’m going to take my time.”
Caldwell’s career
Caldwell, 53, graduated from Myers Park in 1984 and played wide receiver at N.C. Central, where he graduated in 1989. After working in the insurance industry after college, Caldwell began teaching in 1999 at an elementary school in Kannapolis.
He began his coaching career at South Mecklenburg in 2000, as a football assistant. In 2010, Caldwell got his first head coaching job at West Mecklenburg. He took over a team that was 1-10 the year before.
West Mecklenburg won nine games in back-to-back years in 2012 and 2013, becoming one of Mecklenburg County’s top teams. Nine wins was the most the school had posted since 1988, when West Meck was 10-1.
The Hawks, however, won seven games combined in 2014 and 2015, Caldwell’s final season at West Mecklenburg.
After sitting out one year, Caldwell was hired at Garinger, one of the toughest jobs in the state.
Since the start of the 2000 season, Garinger has had 10 coaches. The Wildcats have not had a winning season since 2010, when Garinger was 7-5 under Lin Fisher.
In fact, Garinger has had just two winning seasons since 1995.
But in Caldwell’s first season at Garinger, in 2017, the Wildcats beat Monroe’s Central Academy 42-0 to end a 55-game losing streak.
“This is a delicate situation over here,” Caldwell said. “The only reason I came over was because God said, ‘Go.’ We’re all from Charlotte. We know what these schools were. I felt bad, even when I was at West, they’re talking about a team in Charlotte and saying ‘it’s the sorriest team in the state.’ That was a motivating factor. We grew up here. There’s no reason for any of our schools to be sorry in nothing.”
Garinger athletic director Tony Huggins said the job opening will be posted immediately and the school is “looking to take our time and get this hire right.”
Garinger AD to retire
Huggins, 53, told the Observer on Wednesday that he is retiring July 1. He has worked in CMS for 31.5 years. He’s been the athletic director at Garinger for seven years. Before that, he was AD at Ridge Road Middle School and Albemarle Road Middle School. He also taught and coached at Independence for 12 seasons.
For 14 years, Huggins was a teacher and coach in CMS. He started as girls varsity basketball at Garinger and later became head boys coach at Independence. His 1997 Patriots team won the N.C. 4A state championship.
Robinson hires new football coach
In Concord, J.M. Robinson has hired Darius Robinson as the team’s new head football coach. Robinson was defensive coordinator at the school last year. Robinson, 28, replaces Rich Williams who resigned in November.
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 9:18 AM.
