Former Myers Park football coach accepts a job in Wake County area
Former Myers Park High football coach Scott Chadwick is returning to the N.C. sidelines.
After 18 months as director of recruiting operations at Maryland, Chadwick has decided to return to high school. He’s been named head football at Clayton High School in Johnston County, which is near Raleigh.
Chadwick replaces Shane Handy, who was 5-6 last season. That was Clayton’s first losing season since 2015.
Sure. And thanks. “Chadwick, 52, has been a head coach for 21 years. Overall, he’s coached for 26 years in high school and college combined. He developed Myers Park into a nationally ranked team that produced multiple Division I prospects, including Texas A&M receiver Muhsin Muhammad and North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.
Chadwick left Myers Park in February of last year.
When Chadwick came to Myers Park High before the 2014 season, he was the school’s third football coach hired in three seasons. He immediately witnessed what he called a lack of discipline. He told The Observer that season that he saw players who looked at football, as he called it, a “June-to-November sport.” He saw the need to implement hard rules. In his first season, he suspended nine players during a 5-7 season.
That move helped get Chadwick’s message across that things would be different. Two months after his first season, school boosters paid for a $250,000 weight room. Chadwick began convincing players they needed to focus on football year-round. In 2015, Myers Park was 7-6. It was the school’s first winning season since 2011 and its second winning season in 10 years. The Mustangs haven’t had a losing season since.
In fact, in Chadwick’s last four seasons, Myers Park was 48-7.
“I’ve learned a lot in the time I was at Maryland,” Chadwick said. “I’m very thankful for that opportunity. But main thing I’ve learned that my best fit is as a high school football coach.”
Chadwick will begin at his new school Monday.
“It’s certainly early to tell about the team,” he said. “This literally came up for me, a week ago. It’s been a whirlwind opportunity and haven’t had a chance to do a whole lot of research. I was more focused on researching structure of program in place and that’s what was so attractive. You have a school and athletic program greatly supported by the town and a football program that’s obviously a priority to the town and school administration.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 3:01 PM.
