Independence High hires new head football coach — from the Patriots’ rival school
Former Independence High quarterback DJ McFadden is coming home.
McFadden, 32, was hired Monday as the Patriots’ new head football coach after spending last season at rival Butler as the quarterbacks coach. Butler is Independence’s rival school, located within six miles.
McFadden said he a lot of work to do, turning around a program that was 2-5 last season. Independence, once a national power and the most feared team in North Carolina, hasn’t had a winning season since 2015.
McFadden will replace Mike Natoli and will become the fifth Independence coach in six years.
“The main thing for us right now is restoring some pride and culture in that place,” McFadden said. “That’s been missing. I look at film and they’ve got players and pieces there. A lot of it is an effort thing, and a lot of that is pride. I’ll try to bring that back with some of the coaches I bring in, and once we get that discipline and accountability back, in how we work and practice, everything else will take care of itself.”
A high school star
McFadden was a two-year starter at Independence High in the 2005 and ‘06 seasons. He led the Patriots to back-to-back state championships and was named all-state after his junior and senior seasons. From 2000-07, Independence won seven straight state championships and made eight straight finals appearances, once winning 109 games in a row.
Independence was 32-0 with McFadden at quarterback. In two seasons, McFadden — who signed with East Carolina out of high school — threw for 6,148 yards with 48 touchdowns for legendary coach Tom Knotts. McFadden moved to receiver in college and transferred to Winston-Salem State after two seasons.
After college, McFadden returned to Charlotte and started coaching. He joined Joe Evans’ staff at Independence in 2014 and was part of a team that went 12-1. Evans was let go after the 2014 season — when Independence returned to No. 1 in the Observer’s Sweet 16 poll for the first time in six years.
Evans was hired at Ardrey Kell shortly after that, and one of the first assistants he brought in was McFadden, naming him offensive coordinator.
“He’s a great offensive mind,” said Evans, now head coach at South Mecklenburg. “Playing for Coach Knotts and soaking up all that knowledge, when he played there, that helps a lot. He knows how to break down a defense and how to put people in the right places, and he does a really good job connecting with kids. He’s younger and he’s got that going for him and kids respect him and play hard for him. He’ll tell them that on the field it’s about business, but when we get off the field, we can talk about anything and they respect that. Kids want to know they’re cared for, and people care for them more than just being a football player.”
The return of the ‘I’
Evans thinks McFadden will use all those skills and do well in first head coaching job.
“He has a passion for that place,” Evans said. “He was telling me, ‘When I went to school there, we didn’t call it Indy or Independence. I told people we went to the I.’ Hearing that passion in his voice, I know he’s going to put everything into it, and he’ll do everything he can to get that place back to where it was.”
McFadden feels he’s ready to become a head coach now. He did two years with Evans at Ardrey Kell and he did two at then national power Mallard Creek. In 2019, he was at Myers Park with multiple Power 5 recruits, including All-America quarterback Drake Maye. And in the 2021 season, he helped Butler reach the N.C. 4A state semifinals.
Now he wants to help his alma mater have the same type of winning seasons he’s been used to as a coach.
“I have a couple guys I’ve been coaching with that played at Independence that will follow me,” McFadden said. “But I’m not just going to come in here and hire a staff full of Indy guys. We’ll get the best coaches available, guys who will be good teachers in the building and good employees. One of the main things in identifying staff is finding coaches who can develop players so they don’t have to find outside trainers and can trust their position coaches to develop in house.
“Man, I’m just ready to get going.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 10:11 AM.
