New Harding High football coach: ‘We just want to have fun and do God’s work’
It didn’t take new Harding High football coach Jeff Caldwell long to say yes when the Rams principal and athletic director offered him the head job Wednesday morning.
Caldwell, 56, will replace Van Smith, who coached the Rams since the 2018 season. Smith’s teams were 10-29. The Rams have only had one winning season since capturing an improbable N.C. 4A state championship in 2017 under current West Charlotte coach Sam Greiner.
In fact, since going 6-6 under William Perkins in 2007, Harding has had just two winning seasons.
Caldwell’s aim is change all that.
“I’m coming there to build the program up,” said Caldwell, a 1984 Myers Park graduate, who grew up in the Hidden Valley neighborhood in north Charlotte. “I don’t look at it like ‘I’ll be there this many years or that many years.’ Things happen. The principal might change. But we want to just have fun and do God’s work, to be about my Father’s business and get these kids where they deserve to be, and re-establish Harding and re-establish that on a consistent basis, not just one year.
“We’ve got good kids here and they need to be loved up on, taught the fundamentals, and like I said, just have some fun. They have not had fun like they’d like to.”
This will be Caldwell’s third head job in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
Most recently, he coached at Garinger for three years, from 2017-19, taking over a team that had five straight winless seasons. Caldwell’s teams were 5-28 and were more competitive than many previous Wildcats’ teams.
Before Garinger, Caldwell’s first head coaching job started at West Mecklenburg in 2010, where he took over a program that was 1-10 the year before.
In 2012 and 13, West Meck won nine games, the most the school had won since 1988. The Hawks, however, won seven games combined in 2014 and 2015, which was Caldwell’s final season.
Since leaving Garinger, Caldwell has taught history at Harding and has been a consultant for the football team and coached the Rams’ golf team.
He said he’ll bring in former Independence graduate Anthony Sterling to be his defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. Sterling, a former high school head coach in South Carolina, was a college teammate of Caldwell’s at N.C. Central. Also joining the staff is former West Charlotte player Eddie McCullough, who played there in the early ‘80s.
“We’re going to have a good staff, a good mix,” Caldwell said. “And I think we’ll do better with numbers this year. We’re losing some kids to rezoning (to Olympic and the new Palisades High), but (Bryant) Bailey, the (athletic director) has been promoting everything and the attitude will be better, and we’ve just got to get out there and ask them to play. If I can get them out to Garinger, I can get them out here. After being at Garinger, nothing is impossible. I had nothing to work with and had to rely on faith, and God worked it out and were able to get kids in school. We have more to work with here.”
Caldwell said his team will feature guys like senior safety Keyshawn Jackson, senior running back and quarterback Diego Parks as well as a wealth of juniors, including linebacker Timir Hickman-Collins and linebacker Julian Carmichael.
“These kids are a blessing,” he said. “They’ve been through COVID. We’ve got a good group of guys. And like I said, I’m gonna love ‘em up first and teach them to love each other. Football is the easy part. It’s just about getting them to believe in each other and not be selfish. And this is my third time around, and I’m going to let loose a little bit. I want to have fun. We want the fans to have fun. And we want this to be an experience.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 11:08 AM.
