He made Myers Park football a power. Now Scott Chadwick is doing it again near Raleigh
Clayton High School football coach Scott Chadwick has his team rolling at the right time. With just three games remaining in the regular season, the Comets are 6-1, matching their win total from a season ago.
When Chadwick took the job at Clayton in 2022, he didn’t arrive until early June, just two months before the season. Chadwick’s first team went 6-5, but he knew, with a full offseason, the Comets were capable of much more.
“When you’re two months away from actually playing games, the culture pieces are hard to instill,” said Chadwick, the Deer Park N.C. high school football coach of the week. “I told people all last season, the (main) thing I felt like our program needed, was an offseason. We had a tremendous offseason. And, the biggest part of what we did in the off-season was you know, was the building of the culture.”
Before Chadwick arrived, Clayton had seven winning seasons in the past 15 years, highlighted by finishing as a 13-1 state 3AA quarterfinalist under coach Hunter Jenks in 2017.
Chadwick is no stranger to building consistent football powers.
In 2014, Chadwick took the job as head coach of the Myers Park Mustangs in Charlotte. He was the school’s third head coach in as many seasons. Through the implementation of a better culture around the team, the same thing he’s trying to do now at Clayton, the Mustangs quickly became one of the state’s top teams.
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. When Chadwick left in February of 2021, to take an assistant’s job at Maryland, his previous four Myers Park teams were 48-7. Those teams featured Power 5 recruits like N.C. State receiver Porter Rooks and UNC quarterback Drake Maye.
“I think the No. 1 thing that I brought from (Myers Park) is how to build a winning culture,” Chadwick said. “As you know, that was something that was lacking when I got to Myers Park. I felt like, even there, I learned what it took to build culture and build the kind of program I wanted to see.”
Seeing the other side of things
Leaving high school to coach at Maryland was an eye-opening experience for Chadwick.
“You know, obviously I’ve been a major part of that on the high school side for years,” Chadwick said. “But I think being on the other side of it, and knowing exactly what colleges and coaches are looking for and how they go about identifying guys helped a lot.”
Knowing what colleges are looking for in an athlete has helped Chadwick get one of his players signed to an SEC school for the first time in Clayton’s history (Dazmin James, a wide receiver is now at Arkansas). But, he still feels that recruiting will always come down to one thing.
“I think though, that one of the things I learned when I was (at Maryland) is that it all comes down to relationships,” Chadwick said. “And no matter what, that is always going to be the case in terms of recruiting.”
To build a program, start at the top
In the short amount of time that Chadwick has been with the Comets, he has noticed a lot of parallels between Myers Park and Clayton.
Mainly, he saw one.
“I think the No. 1 thing, it’s kind of starts at the top and that’s consistency at the head coaching position,” Chadwick said. “For our seniors last year, I was the fourth different head coach they’d had in the time they’d been here. I think for the players, having some consistency at the head coaching spot will help the program.”
Chadwick plans to change that trend at Clayton.
“The town here wants to support the program,” Chadwick said. “But, it is hard for them when the leader of the program changes every year. I can tell you, beyond a shadow of any doubt, that it is my absolute plan to be here a very long time.”
2023 coach of the week honorees
Week 1: Kennedy Tinsley, Mallard Creek
Week 2: Ben Kolstad, Leesville Road
Week 3: Brandon Gentry, Hopewell
Week 4: Andrew Farriss, Northern Nash
Week 5: Sam Greiner, West Charlotte
Week 6: Patrick Stokes, Burlington Williams
Week 7: Scott Chadwick, Clayton
This story was originally published October 11, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
