Another successful N.C. football coach is leaving for a job in South Carolina

Cox Mill head football coach Craig Stewart has resigned, the school announced Tuesday.

Stewart coached at Cox Mill in Cabarrus County for seven years, leading the Chargers to their first conference title last season before falling to Northern Guilford in the first round of 2019 North Carolina 3AA State Championship playoffs. He was named 2019 SPC Conference Coach of the Year. The Chargers are 15-9 in the past two seasons.

“Coach Stewart has been a tremendous asset to Cox Mill High School,” Cox Mill athletic director Philip Davanzo III said in a release. “He embodies what education based athletics is truly about. I have enjoyed working with Coach Stewart since day one at Cox Mill. We will sincerely miss his presence and leadership.

Stewart follows a trend of coaches leaving North Carolina to continue their careers in South Carolina, at schools that often pay better. Last year, former Vance coach Aaron Brand left to take a $100,000 job at at Irmo High in Columbia, nearly doubling his salary.

Stewart will coach and teach next season at St. James High School in Murrells Inlet, S.C., after 29 years at various North Carolina schools, including Southwest Randolph, Mooresville, Hickory Ridge and Northwest Cabarrus Middle and High Schools.

He also coached the Cox Mill boys’ track team the past two seasons while working as the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes club leader and driver’s education teacher.