N.C. high school football coach resigns hours before his team’s season opener
Just hours before his teams’ 2021 season-opening high school football game, Garinger High coach Greg Fowler resigned.
“I won’t be coaching there anymore,” Fowler told The Observer on Thursday afternoon. “I came there to help kids, and it doesn’t seem like that’s the prerogative. That’s my feeling.”
Garinger showed just at Myers Park HIgh School about an hour before kickoff. Myers Park won 49-0.
Reached by phone, Garinger athletic director Art Marlorzo said he and the school would have no comment.
Fowler was hired in March 2020 and came to the Wildcats from UNC-Pembroke, where he was an assistant. Previously, he was the offensive coordinator at North Moore High School in Robbins.
Fowler replaced Jeff Caldwell, who was 5-28 in three seasons. Before Caldwell got to the school, Garinger had gone through five consecutive seasons without a win.
The Wildcats’ next coach will be their 11th in the past 21 years, and that coach will try to give the school its first winning season since 2010. Garinger has had two winning seasons since 1995.
Fowler didn’t want to go into detail about why he was leaving, citing he still worked at Garinger as a civics, economic and psychology teacher. He also teaches weight training.
He did say he met with the players Thursday.
“I just told the kids to go out and be who they are,” he said. “I’m not there any longer, and I wish the kids the best of luck. It was a tough decision. I didn’t want to do it. I was intending to finish the season out for the kids.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 5:32 PM.
